Podcasts about Someday

Our hearts, our love, our thoughts, and our prayers are with Big Brother 27's Mickey Lee, her friends, family, fans, and the entire community. Mickey is gone far too soon and will be sorely missed. We encourage everyone to share Mickey's family's Go-Fund-Me and donate if at all possible. T/W for anyone who might be sensitive to discussion of the late Nikki Grahame-- she is one of the players drawn and discussed in this episode. 2025 in The Diary Room comes to an end with another episode featuring some of our friends from Patreon-- Jenna, Harry, and Joey. Each week in The Diary Room, a wheel of names will randomly select SIX players from North American Big Brother history to enter the bracket. In three separate head-to-head matchups, three players will advance to the next round and three players will be eliminated. Someday, we'll find the best Big Brother player of all time! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join us on Patreon for more Diary Room!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vote in Battle Backs and even cast a vote for the actual Diary Room episodes! Follow us on BlueSky! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thediaryroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Twitter! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@diaryroompcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Nagging Feeling; A Gift by Autumn Dickson Welcome to the Old Testament. I remember the first year I prepared to teach from the Old Testament back in 2022, and I remember being quite overwhelmed with the idea of it. The Old Testament is a very foreign way of writing; it holds a lot of cultural context that can make it difficult. As I worked to prepare messages that year, I found that I wasn't totally wrong in my apprehension. The Old Testament was hard, and it took me much longer to find messages in there and to understand the messages. But I also grew to love the Old Testament that year. I testify that it is worth studying, and it's worth the extra effort. Oftentimes the things that require the most of us are the very things that draw us closer to Christ and therefore, become our favorite things. Which is actually what I want to share today. I remember sitting in a church class and hearing someone say something along the lines of, “We need to stop making people feel bad if they don't study everyday. Some of us just can't, and God still loves us.” I thought that was an interesting observation to make for a couple of reasons. The first reason I found it interesting was because I hadn't heard a single comment that was remotely condemning towards those who hadn't been studying everyday. If someone was feeling guilty about not studying, it wasn't coming directly from the other people who were commenting. Was it coming from the Holy Ghost or from social pressure? I'm not sure. However, let's focus more on my second reason for finding this comment interesting. That reason is going to take the rest of my message. The Lord very strongly asked me to start creating content for the Come Follow Me program. It started with a blog; I felt much more comfortable with this because I could hide behind my writing and not put my face up there. I still didn't want to do the blog because it sounded like it would take a ton of effort, but it sounded more doable than other forms of sharing content. The Lord is tricky that way sometimes because after I got the hang of a blog, He told me to expand my efforts to YouTube. Then a podcast. Instagram. Facebook. TikTok. I fought Him every step of the way if we're being totally honest. There are a couple of reasons I fought Him. The first reason was that I didn't want to be more visible. I had spent a good portion of my life trying to make myself more visible to feel better about myself, and it had only ever burned me. There came a point when I started doing the exact opposite. The second reason is more applicable to what I want to talk about. It was going to be so much work. And it was. Oh my, this has all been so much work. Each step of the way has required a huge learning curve. Creating a website was overwhelming, and there were many angry tears. I almost gave up completely the first time I ever filmed a video and if it hadn't been for my husband forcing me back into the room to try again, I might have given up. Every step of the way, my soul fought with Him over adding just a bit more. I argued that I already didn't have time to do what I was doing. I argued that it was already requiring so much of me to put myself out there. I argued that I was already sacrificing a lot for this. But He persisted and has won up to this point. The effort extended beyond just a learning curve for technology. Trying to share a message about Jesus Christ every single week has been…stretching. I can't tell you how often I've felt that I had nothing left to share. I can't tell you how many times I've had writers block and stared at the screen for a collective number of hours with nothing to show for it. I've been led down research rabbit holes that sometimes amounted to something, and other times, it all came to an anticlimactic stop. I'm a stay-at-home mom who started creating content in 2020. I will hit my 6 year mark this year. To say that I have studied the scriptures is an understatement because my qualifications for this were non-existent beyond what my parents had lovingly taught me at home. I had to study, harder than I ever studied in school, to allow the Lord to help me create. I testify that it was so much work, and  can't testify enough of how this work has changed me. Behind the role of mother and wife, creating this content week after week after week has completely transformed me. It has changed me more than my mission changed me. I am completely new. So should my friend feel bad about not reading the scriptures? Many people would say, “No! Don't make them feel bad! It's better to just teach them the happy effects of scripture study to inspire them.” And you know what? Maybe they're right. I think oftentimes, it is most effective to try and inspire someone into doing the right thing to make their life better. On the flip side, the only reason I started this journey was because I could no longer enjoy my TV show or book while my kids were napping. Every time I sat down to watch and take my break, I felt that nagging feeling that I needed to be investing my time in what God wanted me to do. To be 100% honest, I felt bad for ignoring Him. Feeling guilty that I wasn't following what He had asked me to do is the very thing that got me started on one of the most life-changing things I've ever experienced. The bad feeling was exactly what I needed. So was my friend feeling the Holy Ghost or the pressures of the society around her? I don't know. But I do know this. Acting on that guilty feeling and prioritizing study (because heaven knows the Old Testament requires study) is life-changing. It is hard, but all the best things are. Don't miss out. Someday you'll be given the opportunity to see what you missed out on, and I'm almost positive that's half the reason for the gnashing of teeth on the other side. We will be so mad at ourselves for missing out. Studying in order to create content each week has been so hard. So hard. So painfully hard. Weeks on end of feeling like I was trying to move the Great Wall of China with just my hands. But studying is worth it. I can testify of that principle more than I can testify of a lot of principles. You don't have to be perfect. There were so many imperfect days, but even the imperfect days contributed to changing me. Commit to yourself that this year is the year that you'll engage in scripture study. The Old Testament has to be studied. When the day comes that you're willing to engage in the commandment to study the word of God everyday, you will get to the point where you will wish you had started earlier. Oh how I wish I had developed the hope I have now while I was still in high school. It would have saved me in so many ways. I testify that scripture study is worth it. I testify that the Old Testament has a lot to give if you're willing to give. God stands ready to speak to you and change your life. He stands ready to let the hope of Christ completely transform how you feel about everything important in your life. Let the Spirit tell you that you need to give more of yourself because that is the Spirit telling you how to elevate your life to a whole new level. Listen. Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR's 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Introduction to the Old Testament – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

In this episode, Libby shares an unpopular but critical perspective on how financial advisors should think about “future potential” clients. She explains why treating clients based on who they might become leads to burnout, resentment, and misaligned service models—and how this quiet mistake often causes your best clients to subsidize everyone else

We have devoted several podcasts to the issue of how parents get children to read - off screens and into pages.  We talk about it - others DO something about it.  You might not expect to find Stephen Curry, the great pro basketball player, to be among that group.  However, Stephen and his wife Ayesha have a foundation - Eat.Learn.Play - and over the past few years they've given books every Christmas to every elementary school child in Oakland, California where Stephen started his pro career.  They invited us to Oakland to see the program in action.  Charlie went and had a chance to talk to the Currys about why they, like the two of us, think this issue is so critical. Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned on this week's episode: Shot Ready by Stephen Curry The Boy Who Never Gave Up by Stephen Curry I Am Extraordinary by Stephen Curry I Have a Superpower by Stephen Curry Charlotte's Web by E.B. White The Last Stop on Market Street by Matt De La Pena, illustrated by Christian Robinson Something, Someday by Amanda Gorman, illustrated by Christian Robinson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scot and Jeff discuss The Strokes with Christopher Scalia.Introducing the Band:Your hosts Scot Bertram (@ScotBertram) and Jeff Blehar (@EsotericCD) with guest Christopher Scalia. Chris is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of 13 Novels Conservatives Will Love (But Probably Haven't Read), a perfect Christmas gift for your favorite person. Find him on X at @CJScalia.Christopher's Music Pick: The StrokesThe Strokes emerged at the beginning of the 2000s with a sound that felt both familiar and bracingly new. Drawing on punk, garage rock, and even classic new wave, they stripped things down to tight guitars, propulsive rhythms, and songs that valued economy over excess (at least for a time). Is This It quickly became a defining album of its era, with tracks like “Last Nite,” “Someday,” and “Hard to Explain” setting a template that would influence an entire wave of bands that followed.In this episode, we walk through the band's discography from start to finish, looking closely at how their sound and approach evolved over time. We move from the focused urgency of Room on Fire to the more expansive ambitions of First Impressions of Earth, the occasional experiments on Angles and Comedown Machine, and the late-career recalibration that arrived with The New Abnormal. Along the way, we also talk about the personalities and dynamics that shaped the band's output, from Julian Casablancas's distorted vocal style to the tight, interlocking guitar work of Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. You'll better understand how The Strokes's career actually unfolded. Why some records landed immediately, why others took longer to be reassessed, and how the band managed to remain relevant without simply repeating themselves. In the end, this is less about hype or revival and more about what remains when you line the records up and actually listen.The Strokes's story is also about timing and context: arriving when rock music was bloated, polished, and often self-serious, and offering something leaner and more immediate in response. That initial impact cast a long shadow over everything that followed. This episode tries to sort out how much of their legacy rests on that first run of songs, and how much comes from the quieter, sometimes messier work of sticking around and continuing to make records on their own terms. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Barry and Abigail discuss This Warm December and sample März of the Penguins, No Country For Old Penguins, and Midnight Waddle from Sneaky Penguin Brewing Company in Raleigh, North Carolina.We briefly discussed Eggnogorant by friends of the pod Terry Anderson & The Olympic Ass-Kickin Team. You can listen to Eggnogorant in our first-ever Christmas bonus episode, Bonus: Greet the Hummels... and Friends! (Original Holiday Songs by Friends of the Podcast).We acquired this beer while we were in Raleigh in October, when we had the opportunity to see Brandy Clark and Mary Chapin Carpenter in concert, featuring both friend of the pod Jon Carroll and the legendary Don Dixon in Carpenter's band. See the setlist of the show we saw!We played a sample of Stevie Wonder's original Someday at Christmas, covered by Jack Johnson on this album. Barry mentioned that Wonder's version should have made his personal Christmas music compilation - and he would probably remove Xmas at K-Mart by Root Boy Slim.Bruce Springsteen's live version of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town is the definitive version in Barry's eyes.Barry plugged the recent Beer in Front episode 276 Fresh Wet Hopped Episode, where he learned about wet hopping, which uses freshly picked hops in the brew and is not the opposite of dry hopping - learn more here. The most famous and mass-produced wet-hopped beer is Celebration from Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Dave interviewed Bruz Beers and FlyteCo Brewing, both in Denver, Colorado, who collaborate annually on a wet-hopped beer called Hop Is My Co-Pilot. The brewing of this beer involves an airplane trip across the Rockies to collect freshly picked hops from Billy Goat Hop Farm in Montrose, Colorado. Read more about the incredible journey here!Abigail and Barry both declared that Zee Avi's No Christmas for Me is a modern Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses (and that both of those songs are modern O. Henry stories).Abigail mentioned that Stuck at the Airport by Money Mark is thematically similar to I'll Be Home for Christmas by Bing Crosby. This is one of the songs Abigail will frequently be compelled to listen to when her life circumstances match the lyrics of the song - the other one is It's Only Wednesday by Crash Kings.The Man in the Santa Suit by Neil Halstead reminded Abigail of Father Christmas by The Kinks. We played a little sample of Matt Nathanson's cover of Father Christmas, which appears on our 2022 Christmas playlist!Abigail did not recognize that Rogue Wave's Christmas was a cover of the Who song from Tommy. She compared the lyrics to Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid.Barry compared Jack Johnson's variant lyrics in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to many of the songs on the Straight No Chaser album we reviewed in last year's Christmas episode, Christmas Beers (Straight No Chaser and Gifted Beers).Abigail, per usual, got Silent Night confused with O Holy Night.Listen to our 2025 Christmas playlist!Up next… Touch by EurythmicsJingles are by our friend Pete Coe.Visit Anosmia Awareness for more information on Barry's condition.Follow Barry or Abigail on Untappd to see what we're drinking when we're not on mic!Leave us a rating or a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | Substack | Website | Email us | Virtual Jukebox | Beer Media Group

We've been celebrating our 10th anniversary all year by digging in the vaults to re-present classic episodes with fresh commentary. Today, for our final "classic episode" of 2025, we're revisiting our 2020 conversation with "All I Want for Christmas" co-writer Walter Afanasieff. Happy holidays and thanks for a great year of looking back together as we continue to look toward the future!ABOUT WALTER AFANASIEFFThirteen-time Grammy nominee and two-time winner Walter Afanasieff is best known for his collaborative songwriting and production partnership with Mariah Carey that yielded hit singles such as “Can't Let Go,” “Dreamlover,” “Hero,” “Without You,” “Anytime You Need a Friend,” “Butterfly,” “My All,” and “One Sweet Day,” a duet with Boyz II Men that was named ASCAP Song of the Year. It hit #1 in December of 1995 and stayed there for sixteen weeks—a record that remained unbroken for more than two decades. Their “All I Want for Christmas is You” was released in 1994 and has since become a holiday standard. It hit #1 on Billboard's pop chart for the first time in 2019, giving Walter and Mariah the world record for the longest period of time between a song's original release and its arrival at the top of the chart.  In addition to his success with Carey, Afanasieff carved out a formidable reputation as a go-to producer of hit movie songs. After co-writing and co-producing the Gladys Knight single “License to Kill” from the James Bond film of the same name, he went on to produce “Beauty and the Beast,” “A Whole New World” from Aladdin, “Even If My Heart Would Break” from The Bodyguard, and “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic, which became the best-selling single in the world for 1998. Additionally he produced “Some Day” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Academy Award nominated “Go the Distance” from Hercules.Other hits from the Walter Afanasieff songbook include “Can You Stop the Rain,” a #1 R&B single for Peabo Bryson that earned a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Song, “Missing You Now,” a #1 Adult Contemporary hit for Michael Bolton, “If You Go Away,” a Top 20 single for New Kids on the Block, Savage Garden's #1 pop single “I Knew I Loved You,” and Ricky Martin's massive global hit “She Bangs.”The long list of additional artists Walter has written and produced music for includes Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Luther Vandross, Destiny's Child, Kenny G, Andrea Bocelli, Johnny Mathis, Kenny Loggins, Barbra Streisand, Christina Aguilera, Marc Anthony, Babyface, and Josh Groban.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Taking a break from the running trails, Frail Mary is back in The Diary Room this week to ring in Christmas by crushing three more players' dreams! Each week in The Diary Room, a wheel of names will randomly select SIX players from North American Big Brother history to enter the bracket. In three separate head-to-head matchups, three players will advance to the next round and three players will be eliminated. Someday, we'll find the best Big Brother player of all time! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join us on Patreon for more Diary Room!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vote in Battle Backs and even cast a vote for the actual Diary Room episodes! Follow us on BlueSky! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thediaryroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Twitter! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@diaryroompcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I break down a big news item I think is flying under the radar: OpenAI quietly launched Skills for Codex, and I explain what that means (and how it differs from sub-agents and MCPs). I then share a fast-moving trend I'm watching and why it's a strong wedge for a simple app. After that, I recommend the to-do app I've used for 14 years and give away a startup idea. I close with a practical 6-step framework for going from idea → viral validation → mobile app launch in 2026. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro: the new format (news, trend, app, startup idea, framework) 00:40 – AI New Item: OpenAI launches Skills for Codex 05:45 – Trend: Face Yoga 07:56 – App Recommendation: Things 09:33 – Startup Idea: Call-an-expert service for non-developers stuck at 80% done 14:44 – Framework: Viral Mobile App Framework Key Points OpenAI “Skills” make Codex/ChatGPT more reusable and consistent by packaging repeatable workflows. A “skill” is the recipe, a “sub-agent” is extra worker instances, and an “MCP” is the tool access plug. Face yoga is an emerging sub-niche with clear app potential (simple routines, monetization via paid or ads). Last 20 is a practical marketplace idea: pay for 15 minutes of expert unblock help to finish the last 20%. Viral validation favors apps that are visually obvious, explainable in three words, and tied to insecurity-driven outcomes. Numbered Section Summaries OpenAI Skills: The Quiet Upgrade I walk through OpenAI's launch of Skills for Codex—reusable bundles of instructions/scripts/resources that can be called directly or chosen automatically. I'm excited because this makes agent workflows more consistent and scalable across tasks. The Foundation: Skill vs Sub-Agent vs MCP I clarify the taxonomy: a skill is the written playbook, sub-agents are extra “worker” copies of the model that split a big job, and MCPs are what let the model access external systems like tickets or repos. This is the mental model I want everyone using going into 2026. The Trend: Face Yoga As An App Wedge I share a niche trend I'm seeing—face yoga—and why it's a product opportunity similar to how yoga apps became huge. I call out the obvious app angles: guided routines, jawline/face-slimming programs, and content-driven growth via short videos. The Tool: Things (My Simple Focus System) I recommend the Things to-do app because it's simple: “Today,” “Upcoming,” and “Someday,” without a monthly fee. I also note what's missing (I'd like more AI features), but it still wins for focus if you don't want a “kitchen sink” system. The Startup Idea: Last 20 (Phone-A-Friend For Vibe Coders) I give away the idea: builders get stuck at 80% after using Cursor/Replit/V0, so Last 20 matches them with someone who's solved that exact wall before. The product is a fast screen-share session—problem solved—priced per session or bundled for teams/agencies, with the marketplace taking a cut. The Distribution Framework: Viral Validation → Launch I share a 6-step process: warm up the account, design a visually obvious app, build a tiny MVP fast, post daily until something hits, build the community before the product, then launch with a hard paywall and keep content rolling. It's a simple playbook for getting to organic traction in 2026. The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/ FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

En su disco en solitario 'Solo bebop', el guitarrista Pasquale Grasso toca clásicos del jazz como 'Chasin´the bird', 'Salt peanuts' o 'Stella by starlight'. El compositor y bandoneonista Dino Saluzzi, que en mayo cumplió 90 años, firma 'El viejo caminante', acompañado por las guitarras de su hijo José María y de Jacob Young, con obras como 'La ciudad de los Buenos Aires', 'Northern sun', 'My one and only love' o 'Someday my prince will come'. Para 'With my song in my heart', el pianista Denny Zetlin grabó 'I didn´t know what time it was', 'I have dreamed' y 'With a song in my heart'. Cierran el baterista Edison Machado & Boa Nova con 'Serena'. Escuchar audio

Inspired by Nine Inch Nails “Hurt” as performed by the Man in Black, Mr. Johnny Cash. Someday, we all face the end of us. The end of everything. But these women, these Mothers, are actively going through it. Do they need to? Does anyone deserve to curate the end of humanity? Written and performed by Scott Sigler Production Assistance by Allie Press Copyright 2025 by Empty Set Entertainment  Theme music is the song “Dark Wave” by Roman Rumyantsev My loves, if you have things you wanna say, do it on a blog with GoDaddy Promo Code CJCFOSSIG3 so you can get 99% off the first year of a three-year domain registration. We NEEEED you in the future! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Month of Jeff keeps rolling, and today we are giving the thru-hiking world some love. I tracked down a Jeff who just finished the Appalachian Trail in 2025, Jeff Coull, the guy behind the coullbean.com blog.Follow Jeff on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coullbean/Jeff wanted to hike the AT for almost a decade, but in 2024 it stopped being a “someday” goal and became a “need to.” We talk about the scariest part of committing to a long trail, the conversation with his girlfriend Robin, and how doing something huge does not have to come from tragedy or running away from your life.We get into the details that make a thru hike real: early mistakes (starting too fast, an ankle ligament barking, a sleeping pad that died for two straight weeks), figuring out resupplies when you are basically learning in public, and the constant debate between pop tarts and protein. There is also a strong case made for frozen burritos thawing on the outside of your pack, plus the harsh reality of FarOut water comments when Maine is dry.Jeff carried a “Robin Rock” most of the trail, hid it in plant photos to see if she would notice, and accidentally created a recurring side quest by leaving it behind and coordinating a rescue mission. He also carried a sealed ICE letter from Robin all the way to Katahdin and only opened it on top, which is where the emotions finally caught up.We also talk about trail friendships, why it is so easy to connect with people out there, and how Jeff's view of the “trail family” idea changed once he got confident enough to make his own plan. Then there is the moment in Tennessee when a “power hiking song” conversation turned into an unexpected hour of Freebird on repeat, and a big lesson about forgiveness and leaving old baggage behind.To wrap it up, we hit quick hitters: favorite trail town, best meal, best trail name he heard, what the whole thing cost, and the lesson that kept coming back over and over, be gentle with yourself.Sponsors: Janji, Garage Grown Gear, CS Coffee.Chapters00:00 The Journey Begins: Aspirations and Realizations05:22 Navigating Relationships: Conversations with Loved Ones08:25 Symbolic Connections: The Robin Rock11:25 The Learning Curve: First Experiences on the Trail14:13 Dreams and Goals: The Call of the AT17:28 Life Changes: Quitting the Job for Adventure20:21 Challenges of Thru-Hiking: The Reality vs. Expectations23:29 Building Confidence: Finding Your Own Path26:17 Nutrition on the Trail: The Food Dilemma29:21 The Importance of Gut Health: Eating Fresh on the Trail30:53 Trail Nutrition: Creative Food Choices34:24 Adversity on the Trail: Overcoming Challenges39:13 Building Connections: The Social Aspect of Hiking45:32 Moments of Transformation: Personal Growth on the Trail58:41 The Challenge of Water Scarcity01:01:15 Emotional Reflections on Completing the Trail01:03:27 Slowing Down to Savor the Experience01:06:21 The Emotional Climax at Katahdin01:12:18 Trail Towns and Memorable Meals01:15:27 Lessons Learned and Future AdventuresSubscribe to Substack: http://freeoutside.substack.comSupport this content on patreon: HTTP://patreon.com/freeoutsideBuy my book "Free Outside" on Amazon: https://amzn.to/39LpoSFEmail me to buy a signed copy of my book, "Free Outside" at jeff@freeoutside.comWatch the movie about setting the record on the Colorado Trail: https://tubitv.com/movies/100019916/free-outsideWebsite: www.Freeoutside.comInstagram: thefreeoutsidefacebook: www.facebook.com/freeoutside

Michael (aka Big Brother Boy) is already BACK in the Diary Room, hoping for a more exciting group of players than his last time. Fair to say we accomplished that goal! Each week in The Diary Room, a wheel of names will randomly select SIX players from North American Big Brother history to enter the bracket. In three separate head-to-head matchups, three players will advance to the next round and three players will be eliminated. Someday, we'll find the best Big Brother player of all time! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join us on Patreon for more Diary Room!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vote in Battle Backs and even cast a vote for the actual Diary Room episodes! Follow us on BlueSky! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thediaryroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Twitter! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@diaryroompcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Girl, Take the Lead! — the podcast where we talk honestly about leadership, womanhood, and all the messy, beautiful parts in between.Today I'm joined by Dr. Denise Brown, also known as The Fairy God Doctor — a Stanford-trained physician, former CEO, wife, mom, and now author of The Fairy God Doctor's Guide to a Good Life: A Prescription for the Working Woman. Fairy God Doctor+1If you're listening to this in December while you're juggling holidays, work deadlines, family expectations, and maybe an elf on a shelf you forgot to move

Is God still with you when the pain doesn't go away? This episode dives deep into the invisible torment that chronic pain brings. Dr. David Hockman (a former surgeon who now lives with chronic pain himself) and Pastor Shay Roush unpack what chronic pain actually is, why it's far more than “just physical,” and how it rewires your brain, drains your energy, strains relationships, and can shake your faith to the core.  The conversation walks you through the biology of tolerance and withdrawal, the red flags of addiction, the proper (and improper) use of pain medication, and a long list of practical, whole-person strategies that can help you live with pain instead of being owned by it. At the heart of this episode is a life-changing truth: God's strength is made perfect in weakness, not in the absence of suffering.  Your chronic pain does not mean God has abandoned you; pain may remain, but it never gets the last word. Someday you will be united with Jesus and your present sufferings will be but a “light and momentary affliction” when you receive your pain-free resurrected body. Our prayer is that this hope sustains, guides and comforts you even when the pain doesn't go away. Book resource: Change Your Brain, Change Your Pain by Dr. Daniel Amen Connect with us & Subscribe to our weekly newsletter! Website: withyouintheweeds.com Instagram: @withyouintheweeds Facebook: @withyouintheweeds            X: withyou_weeds

Isaiah 11: 1 - 9

One year ago, my dad passed away.This episode isn't about sadness or moving on — it's about what a year of grief actually teaches you once the shock wears off and life keeps going.We talk about why grief isn't linear, why the “five stages” are often misunderstood, and how loss doesn't get better — it gets different.If you've lost someone, I hope this helps you feel less alone.If you haven't yet, file this away. Someday it'll matter.

Mammoth Club's resident Big Brother superfan Max returns to the podcast for another attempt at pulling some of the most iconic names in the franchise. Last time... Taylor Hale and Nicole Franzel. This time... press play and find out! Each week in The Diary Room, a wheel of names will randomly select SIX players from North American Big Brother history to enter the bracket. In three separate head-to-head matchups, three players will advance to the next round and three players will be eliminated. Someday, we'll find the best Big Brother player of all time! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join us on Patreon for more Diary Room!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vote in Battle Backs and even cast a vote for the actual Diary Room episodes! Follow us on BlueSky! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thediaryroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Twitter! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@diaryroompcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Facebook!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Co-hosts Ryan Piansky, a graduate student and patient advocate living with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and eosinophilic asthma, and Holly Knotowicz, a speech-language pathologist living with EoE who serves on APFED's Health Sciences Advisory Council, interview Fei Li Kuang, MD, PhD, an allergist and immunologist, at Northwestern Medicine, about receiving two APFED HOPE on the Horizon Grants. Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is designed to support, not replace, the relationship between listeners and their healthcare providers. Opinions, information, and recommendations shared in this podcast are not a substitute for medical advice. Decisions related to medical care should be made with your healthcare provider. Opinions and views of guests and co-hosts are their own.   Key Takeaways: [:50] Co-host Ryan Piansky introduces this episode, brought to you thanks to the support of Education Partners GSK, Sanofi, Regeneron, and Takeda. Ryan introduces co-host Holly Knotowicz.   [1:14] Holly introduces today's topic, two APFED HOPE on the Horizon Pilot Grant Projects and today's guest, Fei Li Kuang, MD, PhD, an Assistant Professor in the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois.   [1:42] Dr. Kuang is a physician-scientist who takes care of patients with eosinophilic disorders and also performs laboratory research on these disorders in her lab, often using patient samples. Holly thanks Dr. Kuang for joining us.   [2:05] As a child, Dr. Kuang always wanted to be a scientist. She is so grateful to live out her childhood dream, and it's because of the amazing people who have supported her, most importantly, her parents.   [2:29] In graduate school, Dr. Kuang studied B cells. When she went on to do an allergy fellowship, she thought she would study B cells and care for patients with B cell problems. Instead, she fell in love with allergy and eosinophilic disorders.   [2:50] Dr. Kuang is here, in part, because of the different mentors she has had, and in large part, because of the patients she has met along the way.   [3:20] Dr. Kuang had the opportunity to work with Amy Klion at the NIH in a clinical trial to treat patients with a drug that gets rid of eosinophils. She says it was a dream come true after her training.   [4:02] She says she learned so much about eosinophils, their unusual biology, and the mystery behind what they are here for. She got hooked.   [4:15] Dr. Kuang thinks the patients you meet in a clinical trial in a special place like NIH occupy a space in your heart that makes you want to keep working on the subject area.   [4:34] Patients in a clinical trial have given up a bunch of their time to travel to Bethesda, Maryland. For the trial Dr. Kuang participated in as a Fellow, it was a good year of their time to come out and do it.   [4:47] Dr. Kuang felt there were so many interesting questions, from an intellectual point of view, but there was also a real need from patients with chronic conditions. It was a beautiful opportunity to marry scientists with physicians in training.   [5:36] Dr. Kuang shares some knowledge about eosinophils. They are white blood cells that are in all of us. They have little pink packages or granules that "jumped out" in the light microscope almost 200 years ago, when we first identified them.   [6:00] Dr. Kuang says that animals, dating back to reptiles, and different species of dolphins, all have eosinophils. A veterinary scientist, Dr. Nicole Stacy of the University of Florida, has taken photos of eosinophils from all these different species.   [6:21] They've been around for a long time. What are they good for? What we know is that they are associated with disease conditions, such as asthma and others, including leukemia. Those were the classic first studies of eosinophils.   [6:42] Now, we have a different mindset about eosinophils from work by the late James Lee at Mayo Clinic, Arizona.   [6:58] Dr. Kuang credits Dr. Lee with suggesting that eosinophils not just cause us problems but also help treat parasitic infections, maintain tissue homeostasis, help wound healing, and tissue repair. That's a new area we are beginning to appreciate.   [7:41] Dr. Kuang says we need to be open-minded that in some circumstances, eosinophils may be helpful or innocent. Now we have tools to start to understand some of that. We need to collect information from patients being treated with medicines.   [8:10] Ryan tells of being diagnosed as a kid. Doctors explained to him that eosinophils fight parasites, but in some people, they get confused and attack the esophagus. That's EoE. That was easy to understand, but he knew that the researchers knew more.   [8:53] Ryan is grateful to the patient population around eosinophilic esophagitis, and is proud of APFED's support of patients and caregivers with HOPE Grants. APFED has the HOPE on the Horizon Research Program, entirely funded by community donations.   [9:13] To date, APFED has directed more than $2 million toward eosinophilic disease research initiatives through various grant programs. As a patient advocacy organization, APFED works with fantastic researchers who submit innovative research ideas.   [9:32] These research ideas go through an extensive and competitive peer-review process, supported by researchers and clinicians in the APFED community.   [9:42] Today, we're going to discuss two different projects supported by HOPE Pilot Grants with Dr. Kuang.   [10:00] Dr. Kuang thinks there are two ways these grant programs are important to patients. One is advancing research by nurturing seedling investigators. Dr. Kuang got her first grant when she was a Fellow. It was an incredible opportunity.   [10:25] These grant programs also nurture seedling ideas that don't have enough evidence yet to garner the larger NIH grants, and so forth. There are other sources for grants: pharmaceutical companies. The grant programs are for seeds.   [10:49] Patients need to know that there are new things that are given some chance of being tested out. Research takes some time, and the FDA process of getting a drug approved is long.   [11:04] For the newly diagnosed patient, it can feel overwhelming. It feels like there's a loss of control. Sometimes, participating in something like APFED, being part of a community, gives back a sense of control that is lost when you're handed a diagnosis.   [11:45] For patients who have had it for a long time, when they participate in research and become engaged in organizations like APFED, they know they may not directly benefit today, they may benefit later, but they hope future patients will benefit.   [12:21] That gives them a sense of control and hope that things will be better for the next generation. We all want that, especially in medicine, in something that we don't have a very deep understanding of.   [12:58] Dr. Kuang received two HOPE Pilot Grants, one in 2018 and one in 2022. The first grant was awarded when she was a Fellow at the NIH.   [13:05] That first grant explored some effects of eosinophilic depletion of pathogenic lymphocytes in hypereosinophilic syndrome and overlaps with EGIDs. Ryan asks for a broad overview of that research.   [13:25] When Dr. Kuang was a Fellow at the NIH, they were doing a Phase 2 clinical trial, looking at "blowing up" eosinophils in patients who have a lot of them, hypereosinophilic syndrome patients.   [13:39] They included patients who had eosinophilic GI disease, often beyond the esophagus. They may have esophageal involvement, but sometimes their stomach is impacted, sometimes their large bowel is impacted, with related symptoms.   [13:57] What Dr. Kuang and the team noticed in the trial was that just within that little group of patients, there were people who did well, and people who did much better than before, but would have recurrent symptoms, and with no eosinophils in their GI tissues.    [14:16] The researchers wanted to know what was causing these problems for the patient. If you take eosinophils away, what other factors will impact the immune system of the patient, semi-long-term?   [14:32] Their focus was on these groups of patients who had different responses. They looked at the white blood cells that had been previously described as being the responsible, "bad" T cells that lead to eosinophils in the gut.   [14:49] They found that the patients who had recurrent flares of the disease had more of the bad T cells, and the patients who responded well and never complained again about symptoms did not.   [15:03] That allowed researchers to identify that there were subsets of patients with the disease that they were calling the same thing.   [15:18] Dr. Kuang says that work also led them to find that those cells were being reported in patients who had food allergies for which they needed an epinephrine auto-injector.   [15:27] The researchers were curious whether that was just a food allergy issue, or only applied if you had food allergies and eosinophilic GI disease. That HOPE project allowed them to do a pilot study to look at food allergy patients, too. They did, and published it.   [15:45] They published that in patients who have a food allergy and have these T cells, the insides of those cells make different messages for the immune system than the ones that the researchers had previously described.   [16:01] In looking for why there were differences in those responses, they accidentally found that there were differences inside these cells in a completely different disease, which also had these T cells.   [16:21] Dr. Kuang says that the finding was kind of a surprise. If they had found anything in the eosinophilic GI disease patients, that would have been good. They also looked at the epithelial cells and the structure of the GI lining.   [16:42] Even though there were no eosinophils in the GI lining in the patients who had been treated with a biologic that depleted eosinophils, their GI lining still looked like the GI lining of patients who had eosinophilic GI disease.   [16:55] Dr. Kuang asked what was creating those spots. Our gut lining sheds, so there should have been an opportunity for the GI lining to turn over and look new. Something was there, making signals to create these spots. They did a different publication on that.   [17:21] The data from the HOPE Pilot study allowed Dr. Kuang to apply for larger grants. It allowed her to propose to the company that made this drug, when they did the Phase 3 trial, to insert into that special study the study on eosinophilic GI disease.   [17:48] Do patients with eosinophilic GI disease do better or worse on this drug, and how do the T cells look in that trial? That HOPE Grant gave Dr. Kuang the data to ask the drug company to give her money to study it in an international cohort of patients.   [18:17] There were only 20 patients in that first NIH trial, who gave a year of their life, coming to NIH all the time. They continued to be in the study until the drug was approved for asthma.   [18:28] Dr. Kuang says the main reason the company did the Phase 3 trial, which is expensive, and the market share is not huge because it's a rare disease, is that two of the patients went to bat for this disease population.   [18:47] The two patients went and showed the business people what they looked like before, what the drug had done for them, and how their lives had changed. It wasn't the doctors or the great paper from the trial, but the patients who convinced the company.   [19:01] Dr. Kuang says she was so floored by that and moved by what they did for the community. She is grateful.   [19:24] Since the Phase 3 trial, Dr. Kuang and the other researchers realized they had not fully studied the eosinophils. They had studied them in part. They found differences in response. This inspired the second APFED HOPE Pilot Grant.   [21:19] In 2022, Dr. Kuang received a two-year APFED HOPE Pilot Grant to examine how blood eosinophils in Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Diseases differ from those of other eosinophilic diseases and how T cells in EGIDs differ from those in food allergies.   [21:49] Dr. Kuang says normally, the biggest place of residence for eosinophils is the GI tract. That's where they are normally seen in people who do not have eosinophilic disorders.   [21:59] People who have eosinophilic disorders that attack other parts of the body, asthma, and rarely, the heart. Dr. Kuang was curious to know why one person and not the other?   [22:15] Patients who have eosinophilic GI disease often ask, How do you know this high level in the blood is not going to attack my heart or my lungs in the future? Dr. Kuang does not know.   [22:29] Dr. Kuang says, looking at the cohort at the NIH, that for many patients who have both GI organ involvement and some other space, when they first went to see a provider, their first complaint was a GI condition.   [22:54] If the doctor had only diagnosed a GI condition, nothing else, that would have been wrong. Those patients may not have been monitored as well. A third of the patients originally presented like that.   [23:11] What that meant was that we should be paying attention to patients who have GI disease who have lots of eosinophils in their blood. Moving forward, if there are new complaints, we need to investigate. We can't forget they have that.   [23:27] Dr. Kuang asks, Wouldn't it be great if we had a better tool than needing to wait? Wouldn't it be great if we had a biomarker that said the eosinophils have switched their target location and are going somewhere else?   [23:41] One way to do that is to take different groups of eosinophils and look for differences between those that never target the GI tract and those that do. In patients who have EoE, the eosinophils only target or cause problems in the esophagus.   [23:58] Are their eosinophils any different than those of a healthy person, with none of these conditions? That was the goal of that study.   [24:10] T cells are another type of white blood cell. They contain a memory of foreign things they have encountered, which allows them to glom onto flu, COVID, peanuts, pollen, that kind of thing. They remember.   [24:32] Dr. Kuang says they learned that T cells, at least in the mouse model, are required in the development of eosinophilic esophagitis. The mice in the old study, where mice were forced to develop EoE, did not get EoE if you removed their T cells.   [24:50] In the first APFED HOPE grant study, Dr. Kuang found T cells in the blood and tissue of both EGIDs and food allergy patients, but the insides of the T cells were different. The food allergy patients were children recruited by a pediatric allergist.   [25:19] In the second APFED HOPE grant study, at Northwestern, Dr. Kuang recruited her adult food allergy patients. That was a way to validate what they found in the first study and move further to better characterize those T cells in the two different diseases.   [25:47] Dr. Kuang says we're at a point where we've recruited a lot of people. She says it's amazing what people are willing to do. It's very humbling.   [26:06] Dr. Kuang's team in the lab is really great, too. To accommodate patients, they would see them after work, if that's what they had to do to isolate eosinophils. So they did that, and now they are in the process of analyzing that data. It's really exciting.   [26:28] What's exciting is that they are seeing results that show that eosinophilic GI disease patients have circulating eosinophils that are different from the eosinophils of people who don't have GI involvement, and from people who have EoE.   [26:46] The EoE patients have eosinophils different from those of healthy donors. Dr. Kuang says there's a lot of promise for perhaps unique signatures that could help define these conditions; maybe someday without biopsying, but that's a long time away.   [27:16] Dr. Kuang says they will focus on some candidate targets and try to recreate some of that in a dish with eosinophils from healthy people.   [27:26] What are the signals that lead eosinophils to do this, and can we translate that back to available drugs that target certain cytokines or other pathways, and maybe give some insight to develop drugs that target other pathways for these diseases?   [28:17] Ryan thinks it's exciting that this research is narrowing in on not only the different symptoms, but also how the eosinophils are acting differently in these populations.    [28:44] Dr. Kuang is super excited about this research. You could imagine that all eosinophils are the same, but you don't know until you look. When they looked, using the newest technology, they found there were differences.   [29:33] Dr. Kuang says it is thought that T cells respond to triggers. We don't think eosinophils have a memory for antigens. T cells do. That's one of their definitions. When T cells react to a trigger, they give out messages through cytokines or by delivery.   [30:20] Those are the messages that recruit eosinophils and other cells to come and stir up some trouble.   [30:28] In the mouse model, where you don't have the T cells, and you don't get eosinophilic esophagitis in the particular way they made it happen in a mouse, that middle messenger is gone, so the eosinophils don't know where to go.   [30:44] With drugs that take out eosinophils, you think that you've gotten rid of the cell that creates all the problems. It shouldn't matter what the message says because there's no cell there to cause the damage.   [30:58] What Dr. Kuang learned is that, at least in certain eosinophilic GI diseases, that's not true. You erase the eosinophils from the picture, but that message is still coming.   [31:10] Who's carrying out the orders? Or is that message maintaining the wall of epithelial cells in a certain way that we didn't appreciate because the eosinophils were also there?   [31:24] It's important to study both, because one is the messenger and the other is one of the actors. Whether all of the actions taken by eosinophils are bad, or maybe some of them were meant to be good, we have yet to learn.   [31:40] At the moment, we're using it as a marker for disease activity, and that may change in the future, as we learn more about the roles of these cells in the process.   [31:50] We have drugs now that target eosinophils and drugs that target T cells. Dr. Kuang thinks it's important to study both and to study the impact of these drugs on these cells.   [32:02] You could theoretically use these drugs to understand whether, if someone responds to it, what happens to these cells, and if someone doesn't respond to it, what happens to these cells, and how this disease manifests in this flavor of patients.   [32:54] Dr. Kuang says, Often in science, we take a model. We think this works this way. Then, if this works this way, we expect that if we remove this, these things should happen. We did that with the first clinical trial, with NIH patients.   [33:10] It didn't quite happen the way we thought, so we had to go looking for explanations. These were unusual setbacks. Sometimes you have unusual findings, like the food allergy part.   [33:24] When Dr. Kuang went to Northwestern, she saw different cohorts of patients than she saw at NIH. She saw people who were seen every day, which is a different spectrum than those who are selected to be enrolled in a study protocol at the NIH.   [33:42] That broadened her viewpoint. It's maybe not all food-triggered. They were seeing adults who'd never had food allergies or asthma their whole life, and they had eosinophilic esophagitis suddenly as a 50-year-old. There's a significant group of them.   [34:10] What Dr. Kuang learned and tries to be open-minded about is that where you train, what sorts of patients you see, really shape your viewpoint and thinking about the disease process and the management process.   [34:24] Dr. Kuang says she was so lucky to have experienced that at a quaternary care referral center like the NIH and at an academic center like Northwestern, where there are fantastic gastroenterologists who see so many of these patients.   [34:56] Dr. Kuang and an Allergy Fellow knew they were going to get a wonderful data set from the NIH patients they had recruited, so they thought they had better look deeply at what had been learned before with older technology, with mice and people.   [35:13] They decided to gather previous research, and that ultimately got published as an article. From that research, they learned that people did things in many different ways because there was no standard. They didn't know what the standard should be.   [35:28] Different things you do to try to get eosinophils out of tissue impact how they look, in terms of transcript, gene expression, and what messages they make to define themselves as an eosinophil.   [35:43] They also learned that because eosinophils are hard to work with, they die easily, and you can't freeze them and work on them the next day; you can introduce issues in there that have to be accounted for.   [35:59] They learned that as an eosinophil research community, they ought to come up with some standards so that they can compare future studies with each other. Dr. Kuang says it was impossible to compare the old studies that used different premises.   [36:50] Dr. Kuang says we need to be proactive in creating the datasets in a standard way so that we can compare and have a more fruitful and diverse community of data. It's hard to use the old data.   [37:57] Dr. Kuang says they get fresh blood from patients, and because eosinophils are finicky, they need to be analyzed within four hours, or preserved in a way to save whatever fragile molecules are to be studied.   [38:19] If you let it sit, it starts dying, so you won't have as many of them, and they start changing because they're not in the body. Dr. Kuang experimented with putting a tube of blood on the bench and checking it with the same test every two hours. It changes.   [38:38] Four hours is a standard to prevent the eosinophils from dying. Patients need treatment. If a patient is hospitalized and needs treatment, Dr. Kuang's team needs to be there to get a sample before treatment is started.   [39:03] The treatment impacts it, changing the situation. Much of the treatment, initially, is steroids. When you give lots of steroids, the eosinophils go away. It's no good to draw their blood then.   [39:27] Dr. Kuang also gets a urine sample. The granules of the eosinophils can get into the urine. As they study people with active disease, they want to capture granule proteins in the urine as a less invasive way to monitor activity in different disease states.   [40:04] The patient just needs to give Dr. Kuang either arm and a urine sample.   [41:04] Dr. Kuang explains, you can count your eosinophils after four hours, but to study them, they have different flags of different colors and shapes. Those colors and shapes may mean that it's an activated eosinophil, or they may have other meanings.   [41:41] Dr. Kuang focused on markers that look at whether it's going to spill its granules and some traditional markers of activation.     [41:50] Everyone chooses a different marker of activation. So they decided to look at as many as they could. One marker is not sufficient. They seem to be different in different conditions. The markers are on the surface; you need to analyze them right away.   [42:20] Then, Dr. Kuang breaks open the eosinophils and grabs the messenger RNA. They preserve it to do sequencing to read out the orders to see what this eosinophil is telling itself to make. RNA chops up messages.   [43:00] When you open an eosinophil, a protein you find is RNA, which chops up messages, destroying parts of the cell. You want to save the message. There's a brief time to analyze the eosinophil. Dr. Kuang works to preserve and read the message.   [44:04] Dr. Kuang hopes someday to run a tube of blood, look at the flags on the eosinophils, and say, "I think your eosinophilic GI disease is active," or "You have a kind of eosinophilic GI disease we need to monitor more frequently for organ damage."   [44:38] If another patient doesn't have those flags, Dr. Kuang could say, "I think the chances that you're going to have involvement elsewhere are low." That can give reassurance to folks who are worried.   [45:15] Dr. Kuang hopes that someday we can understand better why some people have food allergies vs. eosinophilic GI disease. They both have T cells, but the T cells have different packages inside with messages to deliver.   [45:34] Every day, Dr. Kuang has to tell patients she doesn't have that answer. Someday, she hopes she can tell a patient she does have that answer.   [46:35] Dr. Kuang tells about an NIH grant she's excited about and the patients she recruits after therapy, or elimination diets, to examine eosinophils and T cells, to see the impacts their treatments or diets have had on eosinophilic GI disease.   [47:18] Dr. Kuang believes there will be predictors of who will respond to an elimination diet and who will respond to steroid therapy. She hopes one day to have that, rather than going through rounds of six to eight weeks followed by a scope.   [47:34] If you have an elimination diet for six to eight weeks, every time you add back a food, you have to do a scope. Dr. Kuang says it would be great if you could be more precise ahead of time for therapy.   [47:48] Dr. Kuang says these wonderful drugs selectively take out parts of the pathway in the immune system. They provide real-life opportunities to ask, why is this important in human biology and the human immune system?   [48:15] Dr. Kuang finds the knowledge itself fascinating and useful. She hopes it informs how we choose future drugs or therapeutic avenues to get the best we can out of what we've learned, so we have more targeted ways of treating specific diseases.   [48:48] Ryan is grateful for all the research happening for the eosinophilic disease community and all the patients participating in the research. He asks Dr. Kuang how a patient can participate in research.   [49:12] There are lots of ways to be involved in research. Dr. Kuang says her patients come away from participating in research feeling good about having done it.   [49:22] Answer a survey, if that's what you have bandwidth for. Where therapies are changing, being a part of a community is good for the community, for the future, but it's good for you, too. It's healing in ways that are not steroids or biologics.   [49:58] Being part of a community is healing in ways we all need when we feel alone and bewildered. You're not alone.   [50:12] There are many ways to participate: APFED, CEGIR, individual institutions, and clinical trials. They all have different amounts of involvement. It's worthwhile to participate, not only for future patients but for yourself. They're fantastic!   [50:56] Dr. Kuang talks about the privilege as a physician of working with APFED and other organizations to do this work.   [51:09] Holly thanks Dr. Kuang for sharing all of this research and exciting information.   [51:25] Dr. Kuang is excited about what her group is doing and is hopeful. Besides showing up for this disease, we have to show up for research, in general, in this country. It's a dark time for NIH research funding.   [51:55] Dr. Kuang asks the young listeners who are thinking of choosing a field to see the potential and get into it, study this, and believe that there's going to be a future with a more nurturing research environment.   [52:36] Dr. Kuang would hate to lose generations of scientists. She says that once she was a little girl who was trying to be a scientist. Her parents had no connections with scientists or doctors, but she was able to get into research, and she thinks you can, too.   [53:48] As a graduate student, Ryan has always been interested in trying to improve things, and he sees hope on the horizon. He's very grateful to the APFED community for supporting these research HOPE Pilot Grants.   [54:17] Ryan is very grateful to Dr. Kuang for joining us today.   [54:22] For our listeners who want to learn more about eosinophilic disorders, we encourage you to visit apfed.org and check out the links in the show notes.   [54:28] If you're looking to find a specialist who treats eosinophilic disorders, we encourage you to use APFED's Specialist Finder at apfed.org/specialist.   [54:37] If you'd like to connect with others impacted by eosinophilic diseases, please join APFED's online community on the Inspire Network at apfed.org/connections.   [54:57] Dr. Kuang thanks Ryan and Holly and says she enjoyed the conversation. Holly also thanks APFED's Education Partners GSK, Sanofi, Regeneron, and Takeda for supporting this episode.   Mentioned in This Episode: Fei Li Kuang, MD, PhD, Allergist and Immunologist, Northwestern Medicine   Grants and publications discussed: Apfed.org/blog/apfed-announces-2018-hope-apfed-hope-pilot-grant-recipient/ Apfed.org/blog/fei-li-kuang-hope-pilot-grant-award/  Pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39213186/ Pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37487654/   APFED on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram Real Talk: Eosinophilic Diseases Podcast apfed.org/specialist apfed.org/connections apfed.org/research/clinical-trials   Education Partners: This episode of APFED's podcast is brought to you thanks to the support of GSK, Sanofi, Regeneron, and Takeda.   Tweetables:   "I think the patients that you meet in a clinical trial, especially in a special place like NIH, occupy a space in your heart — I don't mean to be all too emotional about this — that makes you want to keep working on the subject area." — Fei Li Kuang, MD, PhD   "When I was a Fellow at the NIH, we were doing a Phase 2 clinical trial, looking at, for want of a better word, "blowing up" eosinophils in patients who have a lot of them, hypereosinophilic syndrome patients." — Fei Li Kuang, MD, PhD   "We're at a point where we've recruited a lot of people. I've had patients drive from the northern part of Illinois … come down and give me blood. It's amazing what people want to do and are willing to do. It's very humbling, actually." — Fei Li Kuang, MD, PhD   "You erase the eosinophils from the picture, but that message is still coming. Who's carrying out the orders? Or is that message maintaining the wall of epithelial cells in a certain way that we didn't appreciate because the eosinophils were also there?" — Fei Li Kuang, MD, PhD   "We need to be proactive in creating the datasets in a standard way so that we can compare and have a more fruitful and diverse community of data." — Fei Li Kuang, MD, PhD   "I think it's worthwhile to participate [in a clinical trial], not only for the future people but for yourself." — Fei Li Kuang, MD, PhD   Guest Bio: Fei Li Kuang, MD, PhD, is currently an Assistant Professor in the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL. She is a graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program with both a PhD in Cell Biology/Immunology and an MD.  She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at Columbia University, New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, she did her Fellowship in Allergy and Immunology at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland. She is a physician-scientist who takes care of patients with eosinophilic disorders and also performs laboratory research on these disorders in her lab, often using patient samples.

As WORT celebrates its 50th birthday this year, we've been reflecting on what the last half-century has meant to our community. But on today's show, host Douglas Haynes asks, what will the next 50 years look like? He's joined by the next generation of radio leaders, Olivia O’Callaghan and Daniel Stein from WSUM and Ted Hyngstrom from the Daily Cardinal who produces the weekly feature, Cardinal Call, on WORT. Record numbers of UW Madison students are signing up to volunteer at WSUM, say O'Callahan and Stein. There's interest from students wanting to play music on air and from listeners wanting to engage in digital content, like DJ spotlights and vinyl takeovers. Hyngstrom speculates that there's such a demand for radio because it's easy to consume, you can just put on your headphones and get music or news on demand. There may be something to the generational generalizations about Gen Z-ers ditching the algorithm in favor of analog media, from cassettes to radio. O'Callahan says it's rewarding to be a part of a medium with a long history. And Stein says that even if the medium is an old one, people are consuming radio content in very 21st century ways, by listening on apps, by setting reminders for their favorite shows, replaying favorite shows, and listening on the go.  Stein says that “radio is a big market for people who are looking for an itch that's not already being scratched.” Whereas AI is zapping people's creativity, people tune into WSUM or WORT “because they want to hear something authentic.” College Radio and community radio are shaping local culture, and that work excites these three students. Hyngstrom says that the work of “making something” motivates him, like an art form would. He's driven to work on human-centered stories shaped by expert knowledge, like the Daily Cardinal's recent AI issue. O'Callahan says that getting to know show hosts contributes to the intimacy of the listening experience of radio. She got connected to college radio as a way to meet people, and now she's getting professional experience by applying classroom work in a real-world capacity. And from multimedia content to dynamic programming, our guests envision a bright and innovative future for radio. Ted Hyngstrom is the producer of Cardinal Call, a collaboration between WORT and UW-Madison student newspaper “The Daily Cardinal.” As Podcast Director, he has overseen a comprehensive overhaul of how the Cardinal approaches audio journalism, working to integrate podcasting and audio journalism into the newsroom while simultaneously supporting multimedia storytelling. Academically, Ted is a sophomore Honors college student at UW-Madison studying Journalism and Political Science. Someday, he hopes to work as a local news multimedia journalist. Olivia O’Callaghan is a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying journalism and sociology. She joined WSUM Student Radio her freshman year, and worked as a Traffic Director in 2024 before being elected to serve as Station Manager for the 2025 calendar year. She hosts a music show at 10pm on Wednesday nights called “Kitchen Sink.” Daniel Stein is the Program Director at WSUM where he oversees the content broadcast on their FM and online signals, develops show schedules for nearly 200 active members, and enforces federal broadcast regulations. Featured image of a soundboard at a college radio station via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post College Students Say Radio Still Has a Lot to Offer appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

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Inspired by Nine Inch Nails “Hurt” as performed by the Man in Black, Mr. Johnny Cash. Someday, we all face the end of us. The end of everything. But these women, these Mothers, truly face what we've never had to consider. Are we ready to face humanity's future? Are they? Written and performed by Scott Sigler Production Assistance by Allie Press Copyright 2025 by Empty Set Entertainment  Theme music is the song “Dark Wave” by Roman Rumyantsev I would go to great lengths to save with the GoDaddy Promo Code CJCFOSSIG3 so I can grab 99% off the first year of a three-year domain registration. It's humanity's last hope! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finding Joy Right Now #RTTBROS #Nightlight"This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24You know, I've noticed something about human nature, and I'm as guilty of this as anyone. We spend Monday wishing it was Friday. We spend winter dreaming of summer, and come July, we're already longing for fall. We're always living in the next season, as if joy is just around the corner, waiting for us to arrive.Here's what I've learned, and I'm too soon old and too late smart on this: joy isn't a destination we reach when circumstances align perfectly. Joy is a choice we make right now, in the middle of whatever we're facing.There's a simple formula that really changed how I think about this. Joy equals your current circumstances minus your expectations. When we load up our today with expectations about how things should be, we rob ourselves of the joy that's available in how things actually are.The Apostle Paul understood this. Sitting in a Roman prison, chained to a guard, he wrote these words: "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice" (Philippians 4:4). How could a man in chains write about constant rejoicing? Because Paul had discovered that joy isn't found in perfect circumstances. It's found in the presence of a perfect God, right here, right now.Most of us are standing in the middle of blessings we prayed for last year, but we can't see them because we're too busy looking ahead to next year's wishes. We're so focused on where we're going that we miss where we are.Jesus said, "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself" (Matthew 6:34). Today has enough in it to concern ourselves with, and hidden in that truth is this: today also has enough joy in it if we'll stop demanding it look different than it does.So here's my challenge to you. What if we stopped waiting for Friday and found something to be grateful for on Tuesday? What if we stopped postponing joy until retirement, or until the kids are grown, or until we get that promotion? What if we looked at our current circumstances, released our grip on how we think things should be, and asked God to show us the joy that's available right now?God made this day. Not yesterday, not tomorrow, but this one right here. Don't wait for someday to be joyful. Someday has a way of never quite arriving.Let's pray: Father, forgive us for postponing joy. Help us release our expectations and open our eyes to the blessings You've placed in this very moment. Teach us to rejoice in the day You've made, just as it is. In Jesus' name, Amen.#Faith #Joy #ChristianLiving #DailyDevotion #TrustGod #BiblicalWisdom #SpiritualGrowth #RTTBROS #NightlightBe sure to Like, Share, Follow and subscribe it helps get the word out.https://linktr.ee/rttbros

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. We're talking with Sarah Hooley, Executive Pastor at City Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Founded in 2016 by Lead Pastor Chris Freeman, City Church is a young, rapidly growing, intentionally multi-ethnic, multi-economic, and multi-generational church. Since moving from a setup/teardown environment into their renovated 60,000-square-foot facility, the church has experienced explosive growth—reaching 2,500–2,600 weekly attendees, baptizing nearly 500 people this year, and engaging a high percentage of unchurched and new-to-faith individuals. Is your church reaching people far from Jesus but struggling to disciple them well? Are you navigating the complexities that come with rapid growth? Tune in as Sarah shares how City Church reaches, welcomes, disciples, and mobilizes people who often arrive with little to no church background. Reaching the unchurched at scale. // From the beginning, City Church planted itself intentionally in one of Fort Wayne's most racially diverse neighborhoods. Many guests arrive with no church vocabulary. Many don't know the difference between the Old and New Testament or famous biblical characters. Teaching, therefore, is designed with zero assumptions, helping newcomers feel included while still deeply challenging long-time believers. Worship reflects the church's diversity, blending musical styles in a way that unites cultures rather than centering one preference. Many first-time attendees hear about the church through friends who aren't yet believers themselves—evidence that transformation is visibly taking root. Welcoming culture built by transformed people. // One of the most powerful forces shaping City Church is its culture of warmth and belonging. Their Connections Director, Victoria, came to Christ through City Church herself—giving her deep empathy for the unchurched experience and a passion for noticing people. Her team is trained not just to greet but to see people, engage them meaningfully, and make church feel safe and familiar. Serve teams are intentionally open to nonbelievers as a front door for community and spiritual curiosity—allowing people to “belong before they believe.” This relational warmth is often the defining difference-maker for guests who have never experienced church before. Discipleship for people with no foundation. // Rapid growth and a high percentage of new believers revealed a critical discipleship gap. In response, Pastor Chris launched Act Like Men, a 15-week, high-accountability discipleship course for young men covering identity, integrity, purity, humility, servanthood, and spiritual discipline. Women quickly asked for something similar, prompting the launch of Be Bold Women, a complementary course that includes teaching, mentoring, small groups, a women's conference, and topics like emotional health, community, and living as a godly woman. A volunteer-driven church with a tiny staff. // One of the most stunning aspects of City Church is how much ministry happens through volunteers rather than staff. With only seven full-time staff and roughly 2,600 attendees, their ratio is radically outside national norms. Staff serve as equippers, not doers. High-level volunteer leaders oversee major portions of ministry: shadowing, training, leading teams, scheduling people, and pastoring others. Leadership development is an essential form of discipleship, not an operational necessity. Leading from abundance, not scarcity. // Sarah encourages leaders to adopt a “loaves and fishes” mindset – the question is not what the church lacks but what God can do with what it has. Simplicity, clarity, and focus keep the team aligned. Staff calibrate constantly, coaching one another to resist the pull toward doing everything themselves. Sarah also stresses the importance of relational support systems for leaders—cohorts, mentors, and peers who remind pastors that faithfulness, not outcomes, is the goal. To learn more about City Church, visit forthecity.com, or follow them on social media at @citychurchfw. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Risepointe Do you feel like your church’s or school's facility could be preventing growth? Are you frustrated or possibly overwhelmed at the thought of a complicated or costly building project? Are the limitations of your building becoming obstacles in the path of expanding your ministry? Have you ever felt that you could reach more people if only the facility was better suited to the community’s needs? Well, the team over at Risepointe can help! As former ministry staff and church leaders, they understand how to prioritize and help lead you to a place where the building is a ministry multiplier. Your mission should not be held back by your building. Their team of architects, interior designers and project managers have the professional experience to incorporate creative design solutions to help move YOUR mission forward. Check them out at risepointe.com/unseminary and while you’re there, schedule a FREE call to explore possibilities for your needs, vision and future…Risepointe believes that God still uses spaces…and they're here to help. Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. So glad that you’ve decided to tune in today. This is going to be a jam-packed episode. You’re going to want to buckle up. We’re talking about a lot of stuff today that applies to your church that I know will be super helpful. I’m excited to be talking to Sarah Hooley. She is the executive pastor at a church called City Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This is a church you should be tracking with. If you’re not, they were founded in 2016 by lead pastor Chris Freeman. It’s a diverse church in a city that is for the city with multi-ethnic, multi-economic, multi-generational community. It’s really, God’s doing some incredible things here, and you’re going to want to track along with that. And we’ve got Sarah on the show to help us. Sarah, welcome to the show. Sarah Hooley — Thank you so much for having me. It is a privilege to be joining you today. Rich Birch — Oh, this is going to be wonderful. I’m really looking forward to learning from you. Why don’t you tell us a little bit of the City Church story, kind of set up. Tell us a little bit about it. What’s going on Give us a sense of what’s happening at City Church. Sarah Hooley — Yeah, so we are a nine-year-old church plant. We were a set-up, teardown church for the last eight or so years ah seven and a half. We’ve move we bought a grocery store in 2020. Rich Birch — Good year. Sarah Hooley — Great time to buy a building, and and it was being used as a warehouse. And so we bought it and then the pandemic happened and we’re like, well, we still have a warehouse occupying the space. Maybe at some point it’ll become a church. We don’t know. And then it was just about a couple years ago that we then started a capital campaign and went to develop the the space. It’s 60,000 square feet. We developed about 40,000 square feet of it for our church. Rich Birch — Wow. Sarah Hooley — I’m thinking, man, that’s going to, we’ll be set for a good long time. And we are out of space already. Rich Birch — Yes. Sarah Hooley — And so and we moved from two services to three. And now we’re just, excuse me, trying to figure out what do we do? um God has just been moving in incredible ways. Like we have from the from the start been very intentional about wanting to be a multi-ethnic, multi-economic, multi-generational church. And where we planted has been very intentional. Sarah Hooley — So even where we were for set up and tear down, and we were right in the heart of the city where it was the most ethnically diverse within Fort Wayne. So Fort Wayne is roughly about 66% white in the city as a whole, but in our neighborhood specifically, it’s more 40% African-American, 20% white, 20-ish percent Hispanic. And so it is a much more racially diverse area. Rich Birch — So good. Sarah Hooley — And that is has been very intentional from the beginning. And so our location now, is it’s just been beautiful to see how God has really drawn people from every background. And, you know anyone who’s been a part of a multi-ethnic church knows that that that’s a messy process. It’s It is incredible to see, though, the the beauty and of what God can do when we are are not just attending a church together, but really in community with one another, and with people who come from radically different backgrounds um and and how that can really bring about a lot of healing in our stories and in our in our relationships. Rich Birch — So good. Sarah Hooley — And so um we have grown since moving into the building, we were about 800 people um when we were set-up/teardown. And then once we moved into the building, it has just been um exponential growth. So we we have grown very quickly and just tried to keep up with all of it. Sarah Hooley — One of the things that I’ve i’ve just loved about City Church is it’s very intentional about um reaching those who don’t know Jesus. And so the that really comes from our our lead pastor, from Pastor Chris Freeman, his heart for the lost. So a lot of our growth has not been transfer growth. It’s not just people moving from church to church, but really those who’ve never set foot in a church, those who are, or who ah are really far from Jesus. It’s been a long time. Sarah Hooley — And the greatest evidence of that, that we’ve seen is we are on track to have 500 baptisms this year. Rich Birch — Wow. Oh my goodness. Sarah Hooley — That has just blown our minds. Rich Birch — That’s incredible. Sarah Hooley — Like we, We had to move up ah the frequency of our baptisms to every six weeks because we just could not keep up with all of the people who wanted to get baptized. Rich Birch — We’re not baptizing enough. That’s amazing. Wow. That’s incredible. Sarah Hooley — But we we’re about 430 right now, and I have over 70 people registered for this next upcoming one in December. Sarah Hooley — So it has just it has been a wild ride… Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s great. Sarah Hooley — …of um seeing God move in such phenomenal ways, and and just try to be faithful along the way. How do we steward these people well? Rich Birch — So good. Sarah Hooley — How do we continue to point them to Jesus? How do we encourage them to grow in their faith and to take those next steps of what it looks like to follow him? So it’s… Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. There’s a ton we could we could unpack there, and maybe we’ll have you on in the future to talk. I um, you know, we’ve said it in the past on the podcast, every zip code in the country is more diverse today than it was 10 years ago, and 10 years from now, it will be more diverse, and our churches need to continue to progress towards reflecting the kingdom of God and being, as you’re saying, multi-ethnic. Rich Birch — And so there’s a ton we could we could learn from you on that. Maybe we’ll have you back in the future to talk about that. Cause I, that is definitely a thing I think we all can, can learn from, but I’d love to kind of key in on what you were talking there about. Hey, your church has a heart for, which I think lots of churches do have a heart for reaching people, who don’t know Jesus, but it’s like actually happening at your church, ah which is incredible. Rich Birch — So what were some early signs, you know, that you realize, or what are some of the signs that you realize, oh, this is actually happening. Like we’re actually reaching people. Baptism is one of them. Can you think of any other signs that were like, oh, we we’re reaching people who, who this is a brand new thing for them? Sarah Hooley — Yeah. So I mean, baptism was definitely a big sign of like, wow, these are, these are people who are, are new to following Jesus and taking that, that first step. And in our conversations with people who are preparing to be baptized, um, that, that was a part. It’s so funny, just, just this last week, uh, somebody posted on their Facebook page, uh, City Church choir is better than the club for real. Rich Birch — I love it. Love it. That’s great. Sarah Hooley — And they didn’t, like we don’t have, we didn’t have a choir. It’s our worship team, but like they don’t even know the words for what that worship team is. Rich Birch — Yes. Yes. Yeah. They don’t know the words yet. Sarah Hooley — And, and the comments after that, like it, it truly was showing that we, we are drawing and attracting people who, who like, they’ve they’ve never really considered going to church. And then in our conversations with people, as they’ve realized, like, man, I do want this. I want to follow this Jesus. Like, this makes sense. This is incredible. But you just can’t assume anything. Rich Birch — No. Sarah Hooley — Like, they there’s no foundational understanding of what that looks like. There’s no, and and I think even just, there’s no understanding of even like what some sins are. Like, there’s just not like, oh, I didn’t even, not even realizing that like, that’s not a good idea to continue. So we’ve had, we have people who are like, yes, I want to follow Jesus. And then they’re still sleeping with their girlfriend. They’re still, you know, like it’s and it’s like… Rich Birch — Yes. Yeah. 100%. Sarah Hooley — …oh, I didn’t, I didn’t even know… Rich Birch — The thing. Sarah Hooley — …that that was something that you shouldn’t do. Rich Birch — Yes. Sarah Hooley — And so really being able to, to come alongside and say, okay, man, we have to go back to the basics. We can’t assume anything. It’s gonna… Rich Birch — That’s good. Sarah Hooley — And it really has set the tone, even in just the way that Chris preaches and and all of our our pastors preach that we don’t make assumptions when we’re talking about scripture. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. Sarah Hooley — So allowing um there not to be any barriers or or anything that would create a place where people would feel like, man, like everybody else knows what he’s talking about, but I don’t. And so like just the way that you set things up and explain things and introduce people. So you don’t don’t just assume that everybody knows who Joseph is from the Old Testament. Rich Birch — 100%. Right. Sarah Hooley — Like you have to be like, Hey, this is this guy. And so I think that that has led us to like, Chris does such a great job on Sunday mornings, but man, there’s, there’s so much more that we need to do as far as for people to truly learn what it means to follow Jesus when they don’t have much of a background. Like it’s going to take some more intentional discipleship that, um that we do. So that that has been really a process of of recognition that we even people who are coming on a Sunday… Rich Birch — Right. Sarah Hooley — …they’re excited about Jesus, there’s still some gaps there. Rich Birch — Sure. I’d love to talk. We’re going to get into the discipleship question, but I just want to pause just before we get there. And so um what do you think God’s using to help your church engaged? You know, in different circles of the Christian world, it’s called different things. Unchurched people, seekers, people who follow Jesus, people new to the faith, you know. So the teaching, I agree. That’s like a best practice around, um ah you know, taking time to explain. It takes three sentences to explain instead of just saying, well, you all know Joseph. Sarah Hooley — Yeah. Rich Birch — He’s an example, which is just lazy preaching. You should take a few sentences, explain it. But what else is God using you think to, ah you know, to help your church reach so many unchurched people? Sarah Hooley — Yeah, you know, so we we really have, the the teaching is significant. Rich Birch — Yep. Sarah Hooley — And that’s one of the things that I have just been blown away. So I grew up as a pastor’s kid, went to Bible college, went to seminary, like… Rich Birch — Yep. Sarah Hooley — …biblical, like good, solid biblical teaching is such a huge priority for me. Rich Birch — Yep. Sarah Hooley — And the thing that I think has been unique is that Chris has a way of communicating with those who have never been in church and and helping them to to see a clear picture of who Jesus is and challenging the deep disciples. Those who’ve been following Jesus their whole life. And yet, man… Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s so good. Sarah Hooley — …the way that he brings light to scripture and, and even just like points out some, like, this is what it means to live this out. Rich Birch — That’s good. Sarah Hooley — That has made such a big difference. And then, so we really have had this, this drawing of, of those who have been followers… Rich Birch — So good. Sarah Hooley — …who then can invest in those who are new believers. But also we have, and it and it is beautiful, like a really dynamic worship time that is incredible. And one of the things that’s unique about it is it’s because we’re multi-ethnic, you can’t just go in one kind of genre of music, like it really is a blend. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. Sarah Hooley — And so there’s something about it that um it it’s not all of anyone’s preferences, but you’re like, oh man, like I love this part of it. And then, well, this part’s new and different, but okay, I can I can get on board with it. And so I think those that combination, um but there’s there’s another factor and that’s, that really is in the culture that’s been set in how we are a welcoming church. Sarah Hooley — And so our connections director is somebody who came to faith in our church. So she she started following Jesus, like she had no church background whatsoever, started following Jesus, um started really growing in her discipleship. Her name is Victoria. And it it has been such a beautiful thing to see how she has has such a heart for Jesus and heart for others. And so she’s continued to invest in her team… Rich Birch — It’s great. Sarah Hooley — …in like, how do we make people feel welcome from the beginning? How do we not just say hello and let them walk by, but like really see people? Sarah Hooley — And she has really invested in her connection team on like, how is that an opportunity for discipleship? And so one of the things is you can you can join our greet team. You can join our parking lot team. You can join our coffee team and not be a believer. But the heart behind it is like, is you’re still investigating who Jesus is. Like we hope that you’re rubbing shoulders with someone who is following after him. Rich Birch — Yeah, make some friends, right? Yeah, absolutely. Sarah Hooley — And you have those conversations and that relationship has grown um through that. And you’re you get a picture of of who Jesus is. Rich Birch — So good. Sarah Hooley — And so um like there there it’s just this multifaceted thing that has happened um that really is like when you come, you’re like man, I want to be a part of this. And so we have like, that’s the crazy thing. We have people who are not followers of Jesus inviting their friends, Rich Birch — Yeah, 100%. That’s great. Sarah Hooley — …like new church is better than the club for real. Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that’s great. Sarah Hooley — Like they’re inviting their friends to come and… Rich Birch — So good. Sarah Hooley — …and be a part of this because there’s just something happening here. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. Okay, let’s talk about the discipleship issue. So ah you didn’t say this, I said it, but one of the problems with the church in general is a lot of our discipleship systems assume a fairly high level of actually understanding of scripture. And our church shares a similar heartbeat. We’ll normally see, one of the things a new year guest come through in our church. We don’t ask them a lot, but one of the questions we do ask is for them to describe their kind of faith background before they came. And we’re consistently above 50%. It’s usually 60, 75% of people would describe themselves as something that we would label as unchurched. Rich Birch — And so I understand the discipleship problem. In lots of churches it just you just assume people know stuff and they grow closer to Jesus, but that’s not the case. So how are you helping move people towards being fully discipled followers of Jesus? What does that look like for City Church? Sarah Hooley — Yeah, so we we do, we have loved using Alpha for for those who really still are in that questioning phase and like they’re not even sure. And like they may not, they might may not feel comfortable coming to City Church, but they would come to somebody’s house and walk through Alpha. So that’s been really great for those who are kind of trying to still discover who Jesus is. Sarah Hooley — But for specific discipleship, because we were realizing, man, there’s just some some gaps here, Chris decided to launch a 15-week discipleship course for young men specifically. Rich Birch — Love it. Sarah Hooley — And we really saw, like we are we are a pretty young church. I mean, always have been, but that there was some some pretty serious gaps in and not only like, what does it mean to follow Jesus, but even what does it mean like what does it mean to be a godly man? And so wanting to have, to bring alongside some intentional mentors and people who can invest in these young men. Sarah Hooley — So um he invited people, but it was a very high accountability, high expectation sort of class. They meet at 6 a.m. on Thursday mornings. Rich Birch — Yeah. Wow. Sarah Hooley — That is not something everybody wants to sign up for. It was… Rich Birch — Yeah, no, not every guy wants to do that. I can say that. Sarah Hooley — No, it is it is a huge sacrifice. Rich Birch — Yep. Sarah Hooley — And he said, this is going to require a lot of you. Rich Birch — Right. Sarah Hooley — And they actually have a crazy. Like if you are, if anyone is late, any single person is late, even five seconds, the whole group does pushups together… Rich Birch — Oh, no. Yeah. Okay, that’s cool. Sarah Hooley — …and not in a shaming way, but in a like, Hey, we’re inviting you to something great. Rich Birch — Right. Sarah Hooley — And part of, part of following Jesus is is it’s going to need incorporate discipline in your life. And so we have, we are called to have discipline. And so we’re going to really keep you accountable to this. Sarah Hooley — And so he does um he he talks through, like what does it mean to be a godly man? Talks about identity, talks about discipline, talks about integrity, purity, humility, servanthood. So he’ll do a ah teaching, and then they break off into groups with two leaders. So each group usually has about six six guys who are participants and two leaders who are older men in the church who have um that Chris has identified and recruited. And then they have a small group time. Sarah Hooley — So It has been so incredible to see how God is working, not only through his teaching, but really through that accountability… Rich Birch — That’s good. Sarah Hooley — …and like digging into what does this look like in our lives? And, and then those leaders are, are following up with them and encouraging them throughout the week. They, they do, they, they challenge, they come up with their own challenges. And as like, okay, we’re going to memorize this passage of scripture. And then they, then they like, all right, how did you, did you memorize this? Most of these guys have never memorized scripture in their lives. Rich Birch — Right. Right. Sarah Hooley — And so, even though some of those practices have been really incredible. And he he calls the class Act Like Men. And it really is so, and he makes it very clear, this is not about talking about what what is the difference between a man and a woman. This is talking about what’s the man and a boy. Sarah Hooley — Like we are calling you to be godly men and intentionally calling you up to to live out as godly men, not selfish boys. And so that, that has been beautiful. There was about, um, I think he had about 60 participants the first time he he ran it… Rich Birch — Wow. Sarah Hooley — …with 25 leaders. And then this next, um, this heat currently they’re they’re walking through it right now and there’s 100 guys and 30 leaders. Rich Birch — Wow. Sarah Hooley — It also requires, and they have to pay $100 and that goes right back into them. Like it’s for some resources that they are given. But again, it gives that like, hey, this is a high threshold. This isn’t just a casual thing. Rich Birch — Right. Sarah Hooley — They also cannot miss more than three sessions. If they do, they are asked to step away and if they can join again in a future time. Rich Birch — Take it again or whatever. Yeah. Sarah Hooley — So super high high high… Rich Birch — And is it the idea that it’s going to rotate like kind of a couple seasons a year or something like that? How what what’s the thinking on that? Sarah Hooley — Yeah. Rich Birch — Like how often are you going to run it or what’s that? What’s that look like? Sarah Hooley — Yeah. So, so what we’ve done so far is, um, the men’s course is in the fall. And then, um, after last, last fall, the first time that, that Chris did it, there was such an out, like lot of the wives and the girlfriends and the people who were just connected with these guys, they were like, man, this has been so incredible. Like, what do you have for women? Like, when are we going to have our, our course? Sarah Hooley — And so that really sparked. And I was like, I’m too busy to do this right now, but like, I can’t not do it. So, um my kids, pastor, and I developed Be Bold Women’s, which was a complimentary course for women. And so the men is in the fall and the women starts in January. And we go through the spring and do kind of a similar, we follow a lot of the same topics, although we did choose some different ones, a couple of specific one… Rich Birch — Sure. Sarah Hooley — …that we felt really convicted that, like we do one of our lessons is on emotions and like, what is a healthy, godly way to approach and process, and how are emotions a part of our life? We also talk about community. So there’s just a couple of different topics that we walk through with the women. Sarah Hooley — We also incorporated women’s conference as a part of it that we then opened up to the rest of the church. So everyone in the church could come to the conference. We had our own people speaking at it, our own worship team leading worship. And we had about 300 women at this conference. Rich Birch — Wow. That’s great. Sarah Hooley — And it was just, it was a great start, like jumpstart to our time together in the course, but then also with our larger community. Rich Birch — There’s a lot there I’d love to ask questions about. So my impression of City Church just looking in, don’t know your church well, but follow online. And, you know, I don’t get the vibe from you guys that there’s like, I don’t know, like an overly machismo kind of like, you know, ah like in a negative way. Like, you know, you know you know what I mean? There’s some churches out there. You’re like, okay, they’re like a little too much into the man/woman thing. Sarah Hooley — Uh-huh. Rich Birch — And, and I don’t know how to say that nicely and not like step on people’s toes. I don’t get that vibe from you guys, but this, but you’ve, you’ve obviously taken, taken a gendered approach. Can you unpack that a little bit? Help me understand how is that it’s obviously been super helpful. So, but just kind of talk through that issue. Help me understand that. What’s that look like for you guys? Sarah Hooley — Yeah, we really saw their there just was a need to have those intentional conversations um really of older men investing in younger men, and older women investing in younger women. Rich Birch — Oh, that’s good. Yeah, that’s good. Sarah Hooley — And so um there are things that, there are conversations that you can have when it’s just men, that you add one woman into that mix and it’s gonna change some of those conversations. Rich Birch — Sure. Sarah Hooley — And some of the things that, especially when it comes to kind of the harder accountability parts of of those conversations, it’s going it’s just gonna look differently. If if somebody’s trying to impress somebody else, like that’s going to be an issue. Sarah Hooley — But I think, I think really, even though we’re not a overly like machismo, there’s, that’s still a part of our culture. Rich Birch — Sure. Sarah Hooley — And so I think Chris really wanted to be sure that he, he tackled that kind of toxic masculinity approach. Rich Birch — Yep. Sarah Hooley — And, and like, that is not biblical masculinity. Rich Birch — No. Sarah Hooley — Like this, this idea of, you know, I’m the man. And we’re, but like, that’s not what, and and so really continuing to call them back to that, that being a true man is not the world’s version of, of power and money and having the beautiful wife or girlfriend. It really is about following Jesus’ example. He is the greatest example of what a godly man looks like. Rich Birch — Yeah. Sarah Hooley — So what does that look like? Rich Birch — Yeah. What’s that look like? Sarah Hooley — So that means humility and servanthood and sacrifice and laying down your life for others. And so how do we live that out? Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s good. Sarah Hooley — And then for our women, it it it has been so powerful to be able to have those those deep conversations and um and challenging them to live this out. Sarah Hooley — And you know when you have people who are coming from, like they they don’t have um maybe those older women or men in their lives who have been investing in them and showing them what it looks like to follow Jesus or to live this out. It’s still brand new. And so there’s still, there’s some some space to have those questions be brought. Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s good. Sarah Hooley — And um like, why shouldn’t I return to this abusive boyfriend? Rich Birch — Right. Yep. Sarah Hooley — Why shouldn’t I like, so like being able to deal with some of those really hard conversations in a really healthy way that that comes back to scripture and comes back to like, this is what God wants for you. Rich Birch — Yeah. Sarah Hooley — And um and it’s and it’s hard, like following Jesus is hard. Like there is nothing easy about that… Rich Birch — Yes, yes. Yeah. Sarah Hooley — But it’s so worth it. Rich Birch — Yeah. Sarah Hooley — And I think that being able to put that in front of people. But you know, those are two courses that we have. We have lots of small groups and mid-sized groups and groups that are that are mixed gender. And like there’s some beautiful things from that, too. These two courses specifically are just a little bit unique in in their approach. Rich Birch — That’s good. So as you’ve kind of watched this roll through as an XP, you know, go people go through these experiences, what what kind of changes have you seen in the broader church culture? Like, has there, you know, what have you seen that like, oh, hey, there’s something happening here that that seems to be having a positive impact or negative, I’m assuming there’s positive, that’s been kind of impacting the church culture. Talk to me about that. Sarah Hooley — Yeah, I I you really start to see um just that that growth, the idea that this is, you know, that that view of discipleship that’s a long obedience in the same direction. That is what we are are experiencing. You know, with so many people who are new believers, there are some great breakthrough moments and that is worth celebrating, but it is a long process. And so um I think really being able to come alongside and and watch watch those who are like, they were, they’re excited about Jesus. They’re pumped. They’re going lift their hands and worship. They’re going to be like, join the team. But to go beyond that to, okay, what does this actually look like in my life? And to see them begin to make changes in how they actually live that out. um That they’re not just, okay, this is my Sunday thing. And then I go and I do my weekly thing, um but truly changing. And that like that’s profound. It’s profound to see God work in such powerful ways. Sarah Hooley — And again, it’s not it’s never overnight, like there’s overnight breakthroughs, but it’s always a process. And I think that that like watching the the development of these courses is like there’s gonna be things you’re confronting in week one. And then you might still be confronting in week 10. You might still be confronting in week 15. But there’s there’s growth. And there’s um it doesn’t mean that they’ve been able to overcome everything, but you you can see that that change in them. And that draws people. Sarah Hooley — And so I think that we we’ve been able so to so clearly see even just the growth in the number of guys who who joined the course the first time and then the growth in the second second time through that people are hearing about it and being like, I want to be a part of this. Sarah Hooley — Like I saw what it did in my friend’s life. And like, that’s like, I know it’s 6am, but it’s worth it. I’m going to make the sacrifice. I’m going to be a part of it. And so I think that that that kind of invitation to discipleship where you see what the effect it’s having. And then that brings others in. And they’re like, I want what he has. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s great. Sarah Hooley — Like, I, I’ve, I know who Jesus is, but I, Idon’t want it just to be a yeah, I know who Jesus is. I want to actually know Jesus. Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s fantastic. Friends that are listening in. I one of the one of the changes I for sure have seen in people who are arriving at our churches is, this is a problem when you’ve been at this long enough, like decades ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, people did kind of just stumble into church. Like that actually did happen, but that’s not happening today. Rich Birch — People, when they arrive, they’re they’re arriving with real questions and are looking for, they’re not looking for us, they’re not looking for our ideas, they want Jesus and they wanna know what that looks like. So I love this this idea of calling people to something That is a little more, you know, that’s, it’s not just the like, well, we’re going to to make it super easy. That’s not what it’s about. Sarah Hooley — Yeah. Right. Yeah. Rich Birch — I think makes a lot of sense. Well, I want to pivot to it just a totally different conversation. As we were getting ready for this, one of the things that caught my attention, and you’re a humble leader, Jesus has formed your life. So like you didn’t lead off with like your attendance numbers and all that. You talked about growth, but you didn’t really go there. What what are you averaging right now? Attendance wise, where are you at? Sarah Hooley — Yeah, we’re about 2,500 to 2,600 right now. Rich Birch — Okay. And how many full-time staff do you have as as a team? Sarah Hooley — Oh, we have seven full-time staff. Now, we do have some part-time roles that are high level… Rich Birch — Sure. Sarah Hooley — …but we are a skeleton staff. Rich Birch — Yes. Okay. So to put that in context, like, I, this is why want to hear more about this. How, how are you doing that? So to put make some context that people are listening in, um there’s a kind of a well kind of oiled benchmark out there that says churches should really shoot for 1 to 75 attendees and staff. And, you know, ah really great churches are maybe one to a hundred. Like that would be amazing if you could get that. I think the math on you guys is one to like 350 or something like that. Sarah Hooley — Yep. Rich Birch — Even if it’s like, okay, those those other equivalents, even if they end up being say you have another three full-time people in all those part-time. So you’re 10 full-time equivalents. That’s still like one to 250. So like, this is a significant lesson, friends. We need to learn from. Rich Birch — So it’s like, I really just want to say, talk. Like what systems and philosophies make that happen? Sarah Hooley — Yeah. Rich Birch — How do you, you know, how are you able to make that happen? Talk us through that. Sarah Hooley — Yeah. Well, we are trying to hire. So there are some roles that we definitely know that we need. Rich Birch — Yes. You got a long ways to go though. Even if you doubled your staff, you still would be like one to 125, which is still very high. You know, that’s great. Sarah Hooley — Yeah. And this has been one of the unique things about being a multi-ethnic church and a multi-ethnic church that’s reaching new believers. The the the financial support, it takes longer. Like financial discipleship, it’s a process. And and in a um you know within our community, there’s a significant like where we our church specifically is, there’s a significant number of people who are below the poverty line. And so that just means that where our budget is not going to be as large. Sarah Hooley — But so like we have always, and I think part of it is going from that church plant model to even having an established church. Like we’ve always had to be scrappy. Like you always have had to, like I started as a volunteer and I wanted to do a women’s conference. And then someone came and said, I heard that you’re leading the women’s ministry. And I was like, what? Like I didn’t, I just wanted to lead this women’s conference. Sarah Hooley — But just the the way that, um you know, we have continued to to philosophically want to equip the body to be the ministers. That it’s not just, oh, we can just hire somebody to do that. But for every staff person being so intentional about choosing staff members who can be equippers, who are not looking to just do ministry, but who are looking to equip others to do the ministry. And so those who can develop and be leaders of leaders. And that that really has been a part of our heart um in the beginning out of necessity. But also as we’ve continued to grow, um we’ve found there’s just been incredible fruit, because it calls the whole church body into being a part of what’s going on. Sarah Hooley — And so there is nothing more powerful and significant than saying like, yeah, I am I am a significant like participant, I am leading within this church in in a significant way that creates such buy-in. And so like that has really made a difference in in, I think, our church culture and and in just people so staying with us and saying like, man, there’s there’s there’s something happening here. I wanna be a part of it. And um being identified in like, given the opportunity to lead in those ways. And so um we are very, we are slow to hire because we’re kind of a unique, um we have a unique church culture and unique church body… Rich Birch — For sure. Sarah Hooley — …and we want our staff to reflect our church body and to to have buy-in. So I would, so the majority of our staff really are people who have come from the church body itself. So we we only have had very few outside hires um because we know that they understand who we are, they they understand kind of what we’ve been called to do. Sarah Hooley — And so that has been the most, like we have one full-time kids pastor… Rich Birch — Wow. Sarah Hooley — …for 400 children. And she has an associate who’s also very high level and she’s incredible too. Um, but they have done such an incredible job of identifying, okay, within our kids ministry, within our volunteers, who are those people who, who can lead others and who have a heart for developing others. Sarah Hooley — And so, um, so they’ve broken down the different areas and they have leads over each of those individual areas where they’re doing some of the scheduling. So like identifying those administrative skills, like people who have people skills as well as administrative skills. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. Sarah Hooley — But so the role of our of our kids pastor is to you know set the vision and invest in our leaders. And then they are then the ones who are are working through some of those logistics of what it looks like when it comes to staffing or when it comes to volunteers um and being fully like, oh, it’s a whole lot of children. We have a lot of kids. Rich Birch — Yes, that’s amazing. I’d I’d love to double click on some of that there. So this idea of leaders of leaders does not surprise me that, um you know, I it’s like one of these when I heard this, I’m like, I don’t even know anything about this. But I know that you the only way you get to that kind of ratio is you’ve empowered volunteers to actually lead things. Rich Birch — There’s a humbling thing you could do. Church leaders that are listening in do it. Do a giant org chart. Spend two hours and do a giant org chart on a whiteboard. Like literally draw out who is who leads who all the way down to every role in the church and then circle the people that are staff. And oftentimes what you find is there are no leaders of leaders that are volunteers. And they’re just that that’s a that’s a key distinction. How do we get and and how do we keep our staff being Ephesians 4 leaders, people who equip the saints to do the work? Sarah Hooley — Yes. Rich Birch — So give me some of the telltale signs that you that you see in volunteers that, hey, this person is could lead at a high level. And what does the equipping look like? How are you helping them step into that? Sarah Hooley — Yeah, we really do view leadership as discipleship. And so, um, so even for our volunteers, we want to identify people, for them to step into a leadership role like that, that relationship with Jesus, that that’s strong connection to to him is is key. Sarah Hooley — So like that is first and for foremost across across all of our leadership teams. So even though I mentioned earlier that we have some of our serve teams that you can join the team and not be a believer, but for the people who are leading those people, we want them to be following Jesus. Sarah Hooley — And then just looking for those who also love people and have that heart for like, I want to have the conversations that, you know, something is is going on in someone’s life and they’re having a hard time, I’m going to follow up with them during the week. And so um so that love for Jesus, that love for people in some of these roles, it it is some administrative ability. Like, can you handle scheduling people? Like there’s there’s just like, are you able to complete some of those things, some of the doing aspects of ministry? Sarah Hooley — But even within our within our high level leader volunteer leaders, like they’re actually then finding other volunteers who are are doing some of those roles as well. So I think that that has been a process. So it’s looking at who who do we have in front of us? Like who are the people who are like bought in? They see the mission. They’re they’re passionate about what we’re doing. They care about what we’re doing. um And then inviting them into that next step of leadership. Sarah Hooley — A lot of times it’s we kind of give them a chance to kind of test it out first before just throwing them to the wolves so that they can kind of see like like shadowing somebody who already is currently doing something like that to get their feet wet, to kind of understand the the scope of the role. We don’t ever want to ask somebody to to step into a role that they aren’t, that they’re like, I don’t have the capacity for this. And so, but there’s there’s lots of development still along the way of like conversations of like, of of our actual staff members, checking in with them and helping them to like navigate problems and helping them to to think through like how to process, um you know, that they even are invited to bring feedback of like, hey, here are some things that we’re seeing, like what’s a way that we can then approach that together? So like really they they have a great voice into into how things are being run. Rich Birch — That’s good. One of the tensions that happens in a lot of churches is staff, our staff start to think like the kind of important people are people who have full-time staff that report to them. There’s like this insidious pull towards, I’m going to build my little kingdom. And like this is really common, like lots of churches struggle with that. It can be difficult. Rich Birch — How are you developing your, particularly the the culture with your staff team to ensure that they stay focused on leading volunteers rather than, you know, just hiring people? Like, let’s just hire somebody. How do we, how do how are you what are you doing there? Beyond the like, well, we can’t afford it. There’s got to be something else you’re doing to try to help them, you know, develop that. Sarah Hooley — Yeah, feeling missed out on the budget is really helpful. Rich Birch — Well, because, well, and yeah, but the but my pushback would be friendly pushback as as one leader to another is like that resource things are going to get sorted out. And it’s going to come to a time where you have resources to be able to do that. And it could be very tempting to say, let’s just go quadruple the size of our staff. So how are you ensuring that the culture isn’t going to do that? Sarah Hooley — Yeah. And so much of that is through through our coaching, through the way that we talk about this. This is something like we have these calibrating conversations all the time of of this is who we are and this is what we’re about. And this is what it looks like to lead here. That we um and and that And to be totally candid, like that has been a challenge where we had a staff person and as we grew, um could not make that transition of from doing to leading others and and delegating. Sarah Hooley — And so like that that is a challenge of, and and just thinking like, oh man, all we need to do is just add more staff and then I would be okay. And instead of really recognizing like, no, our our heart behind this is inviting the church to be the church. That that, Letting them know that that priesthood of all believers, like we are all called um to do ministry. Sarah Hooley — Ministry is not just for those who have a degree or those who have a title. Like we are called into ministry. And so keeping that before our our leaders and our staff so that they are keeping it before the the people that they’re calling into these volunteer leader roles. Sarah Hooley — And I will say like those who are the volunteers, like they, they’re excited. They’re excited about like, man, like you just invited me into this position. Like you’ve asked, you’ve seen, you saw something in me and asked me to, um to lead in this way and to serve in this way. And it’s, it’s a privilege to do that. But it is also like continuing to put that before us. Like we we are investing in our people. Sarah Hooley — Now, some of our future staff members might come from those who are volunteer leaders. And like and like that’s a beautiful thing because we’re like, man, I already know, I can see how you would operate in this role and how you would fit on our team and how you would keep how you you do get the culture and what what we’re trying to do. And I think that that’s that’s really a beautiful thing. Sarah Hooley — But it is it is a lot of conversation, a lot of coaching, and just a reminder of like, and I think part of it too is is realizing like, we can’t do everything. And so being very intentional to not be overly programmed. To be very clear about, we’re going do these things, like these very simple. Rich Birch — Right. Sarah Hooley — And so that’s where it’s like, it seems so simple. It seems so basic, but we’re going do these simple, basic things and do them faithfully. And um and then, yeah, see what God does. Rich Birch — Trust God for the results. Yeah, that’s fantastic. Yeah. And listen, you know it makes sense that you’ll end up hiring some people because it’s like that’s a little bit of a crazy ah you know ratio. And you know I think that’ll be that’ll be a challenge ahead to keep that focused as you add those people. And it’s not unreasonable to say to your team like, oh, yeah, like we probably should add a few people. Rich Birch — But to still champion at the end of the day, I think that’s like there’s a key piece there that you mentioned. It’s like this idea of championing the people who have been able to make that transition. And I’ve like, I got us like hey, ah it’s about developing leaders and I want to make that happen. And I know that might be messy and there’s other problems with that, but that’s you know that’s good. Rich Birch — It’s been a fantastic conversation. For people who are listening in today who might feel that kind of like, oh my goodness, we’re under-resourced, we’re you know are outnumbered, we don’t have enough people. Help us think through, kind of talk to us a little bit from an even mindset or how we lead point of view to kind of lead from abundance rather than from scarcity. Because a part of what I don’t hear you saying is like, oh, woe is me. Rich Birch — Like you’re like, no, this is just what God’s called us to in this season. We’re going to make it happen. And God’s doing a great thing. So try to encourage us, yeah help us think that through. Sarah Hooley — Yeah. Well, I would, I mean, I would first of all say you’re not alone. So if you feel, if you do feel overwhelmed and outnumbered and under-resourced, like you’re not alone. And so I think that that is is helpful to be like, man, I’m not. And I think that’s where like even having podcasts like this, where you’re able to hear from others, we’re like, oh, man, OK, we’re in this together. We are all doing the mission that God has called us to. And there are challenges that come with that. And and that can be really discouraging and hard. And yet, like, I think when we can have that kind of. loaves and fishes mindset of like the disciples, they could not feed those people. Like they could not fit fill all the needs that were before them. But Jesus could. Sarah Hooley — And so if we can be faithful to say, okay, God, what do we have? What do we have? Like, what do we have in front of us? And how do we use that for your glory? And what what does that look like? What what are the things that we need to like have that laser focus on um so that we can then continue to see what you are going to do with with what we bring. Sarah Hooley — And and I think that there is that reliance on God to um to say like, you’re the one who does the work. Like this is not, and I think that helps us to like, it takes away that that pride and also that just overwhelming feeling feeling of sometimes failure when it’s, it’s not, when we realize that it’s not all on me… Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s good. Sarah Hooley — …like this is not like my responsibility is to be faithful and continuing to be faithful, to follow what God has called me to do. And that means, I mean, that means working hard. That means best practices. That means learning from others, but I am not responsible for the the end result. So how do I just be intentional and faithful with what God has given me? Sarah Hooley — And, and, and I think too, I think it’s really important to, to find others who are also in the journey with you. Rich Birch — That’s good. Sarah Hooley — That you can, that not that you just get together and complain, but that you can really come alongside each other and encourage one another. And that, That has been one of the most significant things that I have found in in stepping into this role. I got connected with a women executive pastor cohort of women all over the country who are leading in this in similar roles. Sarah Hooley — And being able to just ask questions of other church leaders, being able to say, will you pray for me? Like, I’m going through something really difficult right now. Will pray for me? That has encouraged me personally to be able to keep pressing on when it does feel overwhelming or it does feel like, man, the the task is too great for me. To be reminded and to have other pastors in like my corner and in my ear saying, remember who God is and remember what he’s called you to. Rich Birch — That’s good. Sarah Hooley — And so I think that that is just, it’s, if we can keep that in view and that in, in that mindset in view, that that God is so much greater than the most difficult person at your church who is louder than all of the others. And, um and God is greater than the the greatest problems that you are facing and the, the difficulties that you’re walking through. And, and so like, I think just looking for those, those things. Rich Birch — So good. Sarah, this has been such a helpful conversation. I really appreciate you being here today and investing in us. And it’s fantastic, super encouraging and lots of good nuggets in there. I got pages of notes here. If people want to track with you or with the church, where do we want to send them online? Sarah Hooley — Yeah. We I mean we’re on um Instagram and Facebook. We’re forthecity.com is our church website. We are not on TikTok yet. We’re not that cool. I don’t know. Someday we’ll we’ll get there. Rich Birch — Nice. That’s fun. Sarah Hooley — But yeah, that’s that’s the primary way. Rich Birch — That’s great. Thanks so much. Thanks for being here today. Sarah Hooley — Thank you so much.

Returning to the podcast with past matchups to answer for... the man of many hats and costumes... Mike Bloom! Mike helps us sort through another six players from Big Brother Canada in another holiday bonus episode! Each week in The Diary Room, a wheel of names will randomly select SIX players from North American Big Brother history to enter the bracket. In three separate head-to-head matchups, three players will advance to the next round and three players will be eliminated. Someday, we'll find the best Big Brother player of all time! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join us on Patreon for more Diary Room!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vote in Battle Backs and even cast a vote for the actual Diary Room episodes! Follow us on BlueSky! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thediaryroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Twitter! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@diaryroompcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Facebook!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AJ Norris is back in The Diary Room! The funniest man we know (confirmed) helps us pull the next six players and close out some more seasons for Round 1! Each week in The Diary Room, a wheel of names will randomly select SIX players from North American Big Brother history to enter the bracket. In three separate head-to-head matchups, three players will advance to the next round and three players will be eliminated. Someday, we'll find the best Big Brother player of all time! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join us on Patreon for more Diary Room!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vote in Battle Backs and even cast a vote for the actual Diary Room episodes! Follow us on BlueSky! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thediaryroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Twitter! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@diaryroompcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello Christmenteers.....Yes another classic re-play on our Christmas series.....Tiz the time of year to play all of these older shows, plus we will try to get the new ones on before Santa comes to town lol...So here we go with show No# 4Intro: Jingle Bell Rock-The Mistletoe Disco Band1. Santa's Gone Surfin'-The Malabooz2. Christmas For The free-argent3. Upon The Housetop-The Chipmunks4. Sleighride-The Ronettes5. Wonderful Christmastime-Wings6. The Night Before Christmas Song-The Carolers singers7. Tell It To The mountain-The Brothers 48. Another Lonely Christmas-Prince9. Someday at Christmas-Stevie Wonder  10. Little Bright star-Supremes11. Santa Clause Is Coming To Town-Partridge Family12. Winter Wonderland-P.K. & The Sound Explosion13. 2000 Miles-The Pretenders14. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers-Ramona Gerhard15. Scrooge-The Ventures16. Deck The Halls-Julie Andrews17. God's Christmas Tree-The Southwest High School Choir 18. Jingle Bell Rock-Dean Torrance & Mike Love19. Yingle Bells-Yogi Yorgenson20. Caroling, Caroling-Nat King Cole21. White Christmas-Baby Washington22. Here Comes Santa In A Red Canoe-Frank Delima23. Run Rudolph Run-Chuck Berry24. Presents For Christmas-Solomon Burke 25. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year-Brooke Benton26. Pop's We Love you-The Motown Stars27. Away With The Manjor-Tennessee Earnie Ford28. A Christmas Song-Shawn Phillips29. Easier Said Then Done-John Anderson30. The Little Christmas tree-Richard Wintergarden31. Ho-Ho-Ho-Elton John32. Jingle Bells-Bob Mansky Choir33. Snow White Rock Christmas-Vibra Corp.34. Reggae Christmas-Gable Hall School Choir35. Jingle Bells-Lou Donaldson36. Do They Know It's Christmas-Band aid37. White Christmas-Billy Squire38. Great Somebody-The Southwest High School Choir39. This Time Of Year-Brooke Benton40. Make Christmas Bring You Happiness-Luther41. Carol De Luther-Rita Ford Collection42. Silver Bells-Jack Jones43. Sleigh Ride-Johnny Mathis44. Santa Clause Is Coming To Town-The Crystals45. We Wish You A Merry Christmas-The Ventures 46. Hark The angles Sing-The peanuts Gang47. Let's make Christmas Mean Something This year-James brown48. The Lord's Prayer-Jim Neighbors Outro: Jingle bell rock-The Mistletoe Disco Band

In this eye-opening episode of the Secret Life Podcast, host Brianne Davis-Gantt delves into the manipulative world of "future faking." This toxic tactic often seen in relationships involves making grand promises about the future without any intention of following through. Brianne explains how this behavior is designed to control and manipulate partners, creating a false sense of hope while keeping them emotionally invested.With candid insights, Brianne outlines the key characteristics of future faking, including the crucial red flag of words not aligning with actions. She shares relatable anecdotes and practical examples, highlighting how this pattern can manifest in various relationship dynamics, from casual dating to long-term partnerships. Listeners will learn to recognize the signs of future faking, including vague timelines, unfulfilled promises, and the emotional rollercoaster of hope and disappointment.Brianne empowers listeners with actionable strategies to address future faking in their relationships. She emphasizes the importance of communication, setting boundaries, and seeking support when necessary. By focusing on consistent actions rather than empty words, individuals can reclaim their emotional well-being and avoid being trapped in cycles of false promises.

For the final regular podcast of 2025, I am thrilled to welcome back my friend, eight-time Emmy-winning media personality Michael Mackie, to The Jake's Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast!  Michael Mackie is a proud Midwesterner. Growing up, he always knew he wanted to be in TV. Or on TV. Or watching TV. (He's not picky.) “I even got my degree in broadcasting from the University of Iowa to prove to the world I was not only educated but well-versed in sitcoms, game shows, and Oprah,” he says. “Also, I got minors in French and acting as well. Someday, that will enable me to write, produce, direct, and star in a straight-to-video project in Quebec.”  Not only is Michael an Aries with a Pisces rising, but he's also an eight-time Emmy award winner. He's worked and freelanced for various local television affiliates in Des Moines, Orlando, and Kansas City, and was the co-host of a local daily entertainment show, KC Live.   A prolific travel writer by trade, Michael recently joined the prestigious Society of American Travel Writers. “My parents never could comprehend how I earned my keep stringing words together for the universe to appreciate,” he says. “Frankly, that makes three of us. But I feel like it's what I was put on this earth to do. I was born to tell people's stories. Whether you read it—welp, that's up to you.”  Recently, Michael Mackie released his new book, You Have 4 Minutes: My Life as an Unlikely Celebrity Interviewer. The book, which includes an introduction by Cindy Wilson of the B-52's, explains why actress Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman) was one of his favorite interview subjects, and why Andrew Dice Clay was his worst interview. You Have 4 Minutes explores the art of interviewing, dishes a bit of gossip about the stars, and dives deep into his navigation throughout his life's biggest challenges – suffering a major stroke at age 40, the beast that is alcoholism, and a year without all refined sugar.  On this episode of The Jake's Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast, Michael Mackie spoke about his writing process, some of his most memorable entries, including telling Marie Osmond, “Perky! Boobies Up,” and Jennifer Holliday's presence on the defunct Kansas City Live set, and having Cindy Wilson write the book's introduction.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jake-s-take-with-jacob-elyachar--4112003/support.

Lesley shares a powerful reminder from Māori culture about honoring people in their own time and space — including yourself — and why this perspective can shift how you move through the world. She celebrates meaningful wins from OPC members and opens up about how changing her recording schedule completely transformed her tour experience this year. It's a gentle nudge to reflect, reset, and make space for the version of you that's growing right now.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:What takiwātanga revealed about honoring people in their own timing.How Māori values uplift neurodiversity with dignity and respect.Wins from OPC members showing strength, consistency, and body awareness.Why recording months early transformed Lesley's tour experience.How reflecting on last year's setbacks helped her build a better schedule.Episode References/Links:Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsLife on the Spectrum - https://www.instagram.com/p/DKFvUjjOyJt If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's Fuck Yeah Friday. Brad Crowell 0:01  Fuck yeah. Lesley Logan 0:05  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:44  Hey, Be It babe. How are you? My God, it's December 5. This is crazy. This year is going wild. This is your Fuck Yeah Friday, because we got to celebrate Fridays together. And I really love doing these short and sweet episodes. I hope you love them too. I would love to know you. You gotta let us know, and you can send your wins in or your questions in your feedback beitpod.com/questions. Lesley Logan 1:07  So today's episode is quick. I give you something that inspired me from the interwebs, which you know can be a weird place. Then I share something that you sent me, and then I share a win of mine. So here we go. So this one is from the Maori culture, and I hope I said that, it's, it's a hard word for me to say, Maori culture, so I apologize if I said that wrong. In Maori culture, autism is known as, and this is, I'm going to say not correctly, but we're going to go for it. Takiwātanga, meaning, in their own space and time, in their own time and space. And this is powerful world reflects a worldview that honors neurodiversity, seeing each person's way of being as valid, dignified and deserving of respect. Rather than focusing on deficits, takiwātanga encourages inclusion, understanding the belief that everyone experiences life in at their own pace, in their own unique way. And then the post says, Let's embrace perspectives rooted in respect, mana, which means inherent dignity and whanaungatanga, relationships. I'm sorry I've definitely butchered that one, but I hope that you are as inspired as I am, because I actually really appreciate this. I think it's really easy in our culture, especially right now, to be thinking of people who are different than us as having less or we need to fix that or change that. And I just think it's a beautiful thing, like in their own space and time, and their own time and space. Not only should they have that, but we should be giving ourselves all of that. And I just think that that word is beautiful, and I hope that that inspires you to think of yourself and anyone else in your life who is autistic as as being unique. And then, instead of focusing on deficits, focusing on like their their unique person. I hope that we can do that. I think if you're listening to this podcast, you probably are someone who does, who generally tries to be respectful of others, but it is hard, right? It's so hard, especially when people get confused or people get misinformation. And so I hope that that gives you a little inspiration, and it's just like, oh, what a food for thought. I love that. Lesley Logan 3:18  Okay, now your wins. You guys sent me a bunch, so we're gonna go with a couple of them. Here we go. @denisestargazer, my QL is getting stronger and my side bends are finally deep. I love that so much for you. Yeah, it's, like, Pilates is so good. It balances and balances. Someone else could have really overworking QLs, right? And so it's so I love that you got to feel that for your body and get something deep out of it. Peter does Pilates. Had my run scheduled, did not want to go at all. Did 95% of what was scheduled. You know what? I love that. At OPC, we always say like finishing is optional. I think it's really important that one, we're always listening to ourselves. Gotta listen to our bodies. But also it was scheduled, so sometimes it's once you get going, it's like, okay, I can do this. And 95% it's amazing. Like we're celebrating. Okay. One more, @etain.pilates. My teacher didn't have to adjust my legs in prone for Swan, like she does every week. Way to go. Insane. It sounds like your body is starting to connect the dots and not need to be reminded. You know, I love that sometimes people are like, always checklisting in their Pilates practice, like, did I do this? Did I do that? Did I do this? And it's like the goal is that your body does it on its own. All right, you can send your wins in. I love sharing them. Some of them are short, some of them are sweet, some of them are long. I don't care. Bring them in. You want to hear your wins on the show. Here's why, because at some point you're gonna have a crappy Friday, and then hearing a win that you sent me is gonna remind you of something you did do, and that is worth celebrating. Lesley Logan 4:53  All right, my win. So we're on tour right now, and my win is getting to tour, and being so well rested, so prepared, having filmed everything early, and I'm not going, we're going on tour, and I had, I'm going to come back to being behind on my work, like, I'm just so grateful. Look, this was a team effort. This was a year and a half in the making. You've heard me talk about this. I brought a win like this up in the past, but truly, it just keeps getting better. And one of the ways it keeps getting better, and I'll share, I'll share with you how this win came to be. So after everything that we do, we always reflect back on, like, was that good? Is that something we do again? And I am constantly like, reflecting on, how did I feel on that tour, what could I, what, what would have made it better for me, so I can make the tour better for those who are attending. And last year, I got sick before the tour, so yay, sick before the tour. That's wonderful. But that meant that I actually couldn't record two of the YouTube videos before we left, and there would not be time for us to record them on tour, nor would there be time for us to record them when we got back in time for them to release on YouTube. So we just missed a month of YouTube videos, which is unlike us. We've never done that before. Now we have playlists, and we had other tutorials we could drop, but we didn't have our long forms, and that would be like, just we never missed, and I just had to get to come to terms, like it's just not gonna happen. We put too much on my plate. I got sick. And so with my assistant, I was like, okay, we have to make sure that there is room in the schedule for things to go haywire, for me to get sick. And so what's so cool is we adjusted my schedule way back in January so that I would be recording so far in advance, which is not always ideal, because that means like, I'm not recording things in with like, what is going on with the world at the exact same time. However, it allows, if I get sick, there's a little bit more wiggle room to record things, versus just skipping things. So it just feels so good going on this tour, having been so prepared and so on top of things, and knowing that when I come back to my home in January, like the most important thing I have to do is get my hair done and my nails done, like, that's it. So do you hear how a win can be in so many things? It can be a long practice thing. It can be something small. You can also just be in like, I felt a certain way. I don't want to feel like that again. I made a plan, I did the plan, and here we are. So I, being it till you, see, it is hard. Every time, we evolve. We learn more things about ourselves. We figure something out. It's like a mountain with no peak, but not in a way that we're unsatisfied, in a way that we just keep taking a look back at how far we've come and adjusting our path going forward. Because also for my ladies, listening to this, like our bodies are changing, right? I am 42 so you might be in your 50s, and it's already you're on the other side of perimenopause and and I'm getting there, but like may my listening and reflecting myself give you permission to listen and reflect upon yourself. And if you need help, ask for it. If you need people to leave you alone, ask for it, right? And then send that win in so we can celebrate you. Lesley Logan 8:02  All right, a little affirmation for you to take with you on your journey. Here we go. What is today's? I get, here it is. I let go of the things that sit achingly out of reach. I let go of the things that sit achingly out of reach. I let go of the things that sit achingly out of reach. You know what? You do that probably create space to welcome it all the way in. Sometimes, that's how it goes. You release it and it comes back. Someday, I'll tell you about a story when I released Brad and he came back. Anyways, that's a story for another day. You're amazing. Until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 8:38  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 9:20  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 9:25  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 9:30  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 9:37  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 9:40  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Someday, scientists may recreate the wrestler, possibly using frog DNA. Until then, we have to appreciate the ones we have left. Moreno-Taira and more from the UFC 323 undercard on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/heavyhands  Predatory instinct: how Max Holloway attacks: https://open.substack.com/pub/facepunching/p/predatory-instinct-how-max-holloway?r=evbq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false  Heavy Hands merch: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/64577943?asc=u  CONTENTS: 00:00 Intro 5:48 Dvalishvili vs Yan 2 36:15 Pantoja vs Van 57:50 Cejudo vs Talbott  

Returning to the podcast for the first of some December BONUS episodes is BBCAN12's Dinis Freitas! With a BBCAN-only wheel for today, Dinis helps us make three more really tough decisions on who belongs in round 2. Each week in The Diary Room, a wheel of names will randomly select SIX players from North American Big Brother history to enter the bracket. In three separate head-to-head matchups, three players will advance to the next round and three players will be eliminated. Someday, we'll find the best Big Brother player of all time! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join us on Patreon for more Diary Room!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vote in Battle Backs and even cast a vote for the actual Diary Room episodes! Follow us on BlueSky! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thediaryroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Twitter! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@diaryroompcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Facebook!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If helping aging parents plan their next chapter feels overwhelming, you're not alone. Hilary Walker, founder and CEO of Atlanta Seniors Real Estate, joins Host Carol Morgan on the Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio podcast to discuss practical strategies for guiding older adults and their families through transitions into age-appropriate housing. Five Years Early, Not Five Minutes Too Late Walker emphasizes the importance of early planning. A crisis, such as a fall, hospitalization or cognitive decline, makes transitions significantly harder. She encourages older adults to proactively outline their wishes, designate key decision-makers and ensure vital documents, including powers of attorney, wills and beneficiary information, are in place. Families should also discuss expectations long before a move becomes imminent. Older adults are more likely to maintain control over their choices when these conversations happen early and gradually. Walker said, “It's better to gather your information five years early rather than be five minutes too late.” Recognizing When It's Time to Talk How do you know when it's time for a family meeting? Here are some common signs that indicate it may be time to start discussing a move: Frequent falls or near falls Difficulty using stairs or navigating the home Memory lapses or increasing forgetfulness Social isolation Limited use of large portions of the home Isolation, Walker notes, can significantly accelerate decline. Identifying concerns early allows families to access resources and create a thoughtful, measured plan rather than react under pressure. Emotional Roadblocks: Stuff, Sentiment & the Family Home Older adults often feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of belongings accumulated over decades. Instead of focusing on “how much,” families can take a step back to consider what “truly matters for the next season of life.” Touring potential new homes with aging parents can help them visualize what will realistically fit. Walker said, “The biggest roadblock is often the ‘stuff,’ and once we’re able to get around that mindset, you can keep what’s most important to you.” Emotional attachment is just as powerful. Whether it's the yard, garden beds, longtime neighbors or a home full of memories, older adults often struggle with the idea of letting go. Adult children can also unconsciously add pressure. Walker frequently advises children to accept items their parents offer—even if they don't plan to keep them—as it validates the parent's process of release and builds forward momentum. “In your mother or father's mind, they are just trying to start the process,” Walker said. “It's an emotional roadblock that you can help with by simply accepting it.” Moving Forward with Atlanta Seniors Real Estate The Atlanta Seniors Real Estate consultative approach begins with an in-home meeting and walk-through of the property. Walker uses this time to observe lifestyle patterns, understand the aging parent's goals and identify the actual decision-makers in the family. From there, a personalized action plan is created, covering everything from downsizing support to timelines, necessary resources and steps toward listing and selling the home. She partners with vetted, senior-focused service providers who handle the packing and moving logistics. While some transitions take as little as three months, others may unfold over a year or longer. Patience and ongoing communication are often the keys to success. Tune into the full episode to learn more tips for moving older loved ones into age-appropriate housing. For more information about Atlanta Seniors Real Estate, visit www.AtlantaSeniorsRealEstate.com. Looking for active adult living in the Atlanta area? Discover 55-plus communities here. The post From Someday to Today: It's Time to Talk About Senior Housing appeared first on Atlanta Real Estate Forum.

The search for Chris Kirkpatrick is on. Lovina will not rest until her all-time fave makes his Diary Room debut- but will it be today? Time to advance three more players to round 2! Each week in The Diary Room, a wheel of names will randomly select SIX players from North American Big Brother history to enter the bracket. In three separate head-to-head matchups, three players will advance to the next round and three players will be eliminated. Someday, we'll find the best Big Brother player of all time! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join us on Patreon for more Diary Room!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vote in Battle Backs and even cast a vote for the actual Diary Room episodes! Follow us on BlueSky! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thediaryroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Twitter! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@diaryroompcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Facebook!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It grows. It changes. Someday, some say it will conquer!Will it? That depends upon YOU. Do you understand AI and its potential, the ramifications of its capability, do you? I don't, and I guarantee you that the smartest AI person in this world does not either for one simple reason: it never stays the same. It is here today, gone tomorrow, changed, improved, more dominant. The AI of tomorrow does away with the AI of today. What is happening in the world of AI can be constructive or destructive. What do you think?One listener to the Stand wondered whether or not AI could:CREATE JESUSThat is, produce a false, mechanical, perhaps even satanic version of our Lord. Would we, said this listener, know the difference between the REAL JESUS and:A JESUS CREATED BY AI.Interesting questions, don't you think?How can we know the real from the artificial, the sum of the real God from an artificial creation? The first way is to keep a spiritual life completely under the influence of:THE HOLY SPIRITThe Spirit bears witness. It knows the Truth. It is the Truth. It reminds you internally, heart, soul, and even stomach with a so-called:SPIRITUAL GUT CHECKwhen something or someone is Biblically, spiritually, or morally:WRONG.Any AI Jesus, whether created in whole or in part, is dead, satanic, and:WRONG.The Spirit of the Living God, the Holy Spirit, will let you know if you ask.The second way to know the real Jesus from a falsehood is through:PRAYER.When in doubt, ask. When troubled, pray. Seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, the Christ of Glory, and the Wisdom of God the Father. Seek it with all your heart. Ask, and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock on the spiritual doors and they will be opened unto you. Ask in PRAYER. Ask casually or devotedly on your knees. If you ask sincerely, our Divine Messenger the Holy Spirit will answer. Prayer works wonders. That is especially so when the Holy Spirit is at work.The third way a Christian can know the real from the artificial, the real Jesus from a satanic, artificial creation is through the working of a:SOUND MIND.God has not given us the spirit of fear, especially of AI, but of power, love, and sound mind. Are you powerful? Does love permeate your life? Do you possess a sound mind?Train your mind in the ways of the Lord. Read. Research.One has assurances about AI, about anything and everything, if one is an entire Christian, a whole Christian, fully converted and believing in:MINDINTELLECTHEARTEMOTIONSSOULThe whole spirit of the human being. Any Christian can be all of these things, more or less. You need not be an intellectual giant, but you do need to have an intellectual mind which can decern right from wrong, fact from fiction, and truth from lie. The intervention of the Holy Spirit can be yours if you sincerely ASK through prayer.Modern day preachers use AI for content and research for their sermons. Can you tell where the Spirit takes off in the message and AI takes over? Ask the pastor.Churches will use AI. Evangelical Christian organizations will use AI. Religious programs on radio and television will use AI. Can you tell the difference, can you know or at least sense when AI is at work?The Scriptures, our Bible, tell us, WE THE CHRISTIAN PEOPLE, to:KNOW THE SIGNS OF THE TIMESTO TEST THE SPIRITSNot to be afraid, not to run away from the problem, but to be involved to the extent we can. No one should tell us how to evaluate AI or disparage us if we do not fully understand this pervasive force, its problems and potential. NO ONE!But, YOU must do the best YOU can. If the Holy Spirit draws within, you will know for your mind, heart, soul, and even your stomach will react to the:SPIRITUAL GUT CHECK.That is the bottom line, for Truth lives within and can not be compromised by anything artificial.Three things are dominant:FAITHHOPELOVEAI can never challenge, corrupt, or produce doubt with regard to the real FAITH of a real Christian. NEVER. If AI challenges your faith, accept that as a positive, respond to the challenge, learn more about your faith, and appreciate how wonderful, strong, and lasting it is.AI can never reduce or eliminate the HOPE of a Christian, for all things here on this earth, and even the better things to come.AND LOVE. No matter what AI says, does, or becomes in the future, there is no way, NO WAY that AI can ever reproduce or replicate:LOVE.Real love. And that, my fellow Christians, is the Eternal Love of God the Father in our Lord Jesus Christ. That love at work will triumph every time over the artificial, the unreal, the unscriptural, the unspiritual of the thing called:ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.Never be afraid, never doubt, never worry, for you can be absolutely certain there will be no artificial intelligence of any kind in Heaven:ONLY THE REAL JESUS!

Welcome to the podcast of Saint Patrick's Anglican Church in Lexington, KY. We meet Sundays at 4:30 p.m. at 200 Colony Blvd., Lexington, KY 40502. This podcast contains sermons and teaching for spiritual formation. Explore our church at www.saintpatrickschurch.org

“God Is Fully With Us In These Strange Days”   By Mary Lindow   Just over 2,000 years ago, Emmanuel, also called the Christ, changed the world.  In that moment when God became flesh, humanity watched prophecies unfold as hope was born. Jesus, our Emmanuel, provided hope that sin and death wouldn't always win and mankind wouldn't always feel so painfully alone.    What Does Emmanuel Mean in the Bible? It's a word written on countless Christmas cards and sung in some of our most-loved carols.  In Scripture, it first appears in the Old Testament in Isaiah 7:14, which says,    “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign;  The virgin will conceive, and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Emmanuel”.   The Lord Himself will do this, Scripture says.  In other words, this act, which occurred in the birth of Christ, was God-ordained and God-accomplished.    This points to grace, which doesn't come through human effort but rather through relying on God to do what we humans cannot. This was the reason Christ came.    God GAVE us this child, named Emmanuel, which literally means,  “with us is God,” or “God WITH us.”    He may seem distant.  It may even seem impossible this year for you to feel hopeful.  You might have lost your job.  Or maybe you're feeling isolated from those you love.  You may have even grieved the loss of a family member or friend.   Though he may have felt far away to them,  God was so much closer than his people knew — gently planning Jesus' entrance into the world in the most unexpected way.   Looking around, all you might be able to see right now is darkness.  If you try to adjust your eyes, blinking into the night, there seems to be no light.  The weight of sickness, death, injustice and pain perhaps, seem too heavy.   That's why I love this idea of advent which is practiced only among Christians.  And yes, it comes from probably a more liturgical view, but has been so embraced and now practice in homes and church gatherings across the world, as families gather to contemplate and to pray and to spend quiet time discussing when Jesus came as a child as the Messiah!  Emmanuel!!! God WITH Us!     Advent means "coming" or "arrival" and refers to the Christian season that begins four Sundays before Christmas, where focusing on preparation for the celebration of Jesus's birth and his anticipated return is a beautiful thing! It's definitely better than the commercial glut of constant “buy, buy, buy,” and, the overkill of sappy fantasy Christmas shows, as well as the pressurized giving of gifts to every boss, coworker, friend and pet!  It's a time of expectation, reverence and hope for many Christians!   I was reading through a Wycliffe advent devotional last evening, and these words so struck me that I'm going to share them with you trusting that they too, will move your heart to remember that Emmanuel, God …. IS with us!  No matter what may come   This excerpt of the devotional said, “As we enter the Advent season, do you feel weary? You're not alone. Or maybe you're just tired. Numb. Ready to pull the covers over your head and try this whole "Christmas cheer" thing again next year.    Don't feel guilty.  Instead, acknowledge the very real darkness of this world and you'll have eyes to see Advent through the same lens as the people waiting for a Messiah thousands of years ago. You could even say that being weary and worn out is an acceptable place from which to approach this Advent season. Because Advent exists to remind us that, while darkness surrounds us and troubles exist, the hope of Christmas isn't far away.   The people of Israel hadn't heard anything from God about their redeemer.  God's chosen people must have cried out to him, asking how long it would be before their hope, their salvation, would arrive!  It was too dark, and God seemed to be silent.    Has he felt that way to you this year? Silent? Though he may have felt far away to them, God was so much closer than his people knew —gently planning Jesus' entrance into the world in the most unexpected way.   But at the appointed time, Jesus came — God with us in flesh and blood. Born in Bethlehem, carried to Egypt, raised in Nazareth. Son of Man and Son of God. A humble child and a holy King. Worshiped by some, rejected by many. Fully human, yet eternally divine.”     What beautiful and raw honesty in those words in that excerpt from the devotional!   Friends! Any way you look at it, Emmanuel was a living Divine Grace.  The infinite King, wrapped in the cloth of an infant.  The holy One, living among the fallen.  In Him, the impossible became real, not only in prophecy, but in His very presence.    When God stepped into our world,  “impossible” lost all meaning.     In Isaiah 42:16 it says, “And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not;  I will lead them in paths that they have not known:  I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.  These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.”      Dear believer!  The darkness of this world has always tried encroach upon the joy and the hope of God being with his people.  It hates that we cling to the light, and even though we cannot see or understand, everything fully about the ONE who came and paid the price for us, yet we abandoned our own hearts to him, trusting that he will guide and light our path. It is in this practice that all of hell must bow its knee and tremble for the very fact that Christ is in us and he is the hope of glory.  Someday we will return to the ONE who created us, but for now, he has come to walk with us, to be with us, and his Holy Spirit is here to correct, to guide, to convict and to advocate for us.    Let us cry out, “Oh Come! Oh Come Emmanuel! Oh come God! Be with us, in us, and move through us to help others who are trapped in the darkness!”   Let's take time to pray together about all of this right now. Lord God, only you can see into our hearts and know that under all the busy-ness of our lives , there is a deep longing to make this season one that welcomes you more deeply into our own lives.   Our hearts desire the warmth of your love and our minds search for your Light in the midst of the darkness. Help us to be peacemakers this season and to give special love to those who disagree with us. Please, Give us the strength and courage to forgive those who have hurt us or who treat us dismissively. Help us to free our hearts from the prison of anger and hurt. Only you Lord can bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us rest in this weary world. We thank you for being a God that IS  with us! Amen.   Duplication and sharing of this writing is welcomed As long as the complete message, website and podcast  information for Mary Lindow is included. Thank You! Copyright © 2025   " THE MESSENGER "  - "The Advocate of Hope"  Mary Lindow www.marylindow.com PODCAST   If you would be so kind and assist Mary helping her to meet other administrative needs such as website and podcast costs,  or  desire to bless her service in ministry with Spirit-led Love gifts or regular support: Please JOYFULLY send your gift in the form of:  ► Personal Checks ► Business Checks ► Money Orders ► Cashiers Checks To:  His Beloved Ministries Inc.  PO Box 1253 Denver, Colorado 80614  USA    Or feel free to use our send a tax-deductible gift with Pay Pal   paypal.me/mlindow  Under the name of - Mary Lindow His Beloved Ministries Inc.    ALL gifts are tax-deductible under His Beloved Ministries 5013c non-profit status.   We are financially accountable and have been in full compliance since 1985.  THANK YOU!      

Tamia - Someday At Christmas (Flava's mix) by DJ FLAVA

It's a Hunter and JadiimJedi episode! Expect it to go long and feature lots of tangents. This week we're taking a look at all the new action cards added to Thunder's Edge (We'll do a separate episode for the Twilight's Fall cards don't you worry). Also reminder! Many of the codex ACs also got makeovers so expect us to cover that as well. Someday we'll do another episode about the entire AC deck and I hope on that day you will witness the first 7 hour SCPT episode.  Signups for our first online Thunder's Edge tournament are LIVE! Subscribe to the patreon to get in on the action! https://www.patreon.com/spacecatspeaceturtles Qualifier Slices: It's Gashlai O'clock | 26,28,115,43,19 Fisherman's Horizon | 39,110,62,49,63 The Bellagio | 79,109,107,47,74 Triples is Best | 102,76,111,114,48 The Tempestations | 40,108,100,44,37 A Starpoint in your Starpoint | 113,27,99,46,24 Atlas "Shrugged" | 64,73,67,42,59   Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ Art by Sun To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Welcome to the Internet 11-26-2025 … What if Korn wrote "Someday" by Sugar Ray …Women Measure Inches Differently than Men …Step-Bro, I'm Stuck! You can do whatever you want … Y'all Too Comfortable Blowing Up Church Bathrooms

Our first EVER guest here in The Diary Room.. is back! CORY WURTENBERGER returns to the pod to discuss everything that's happened since we last chatted, before pulling the next six players. Each week in The Diary Room, a wheel of names will randomly select SIX players from North American Big Brother history to enter the bracket. In three separate head-to-head matchups, three players will advance to the next round and three players will be eliminated. Someday, we'll find the best Big Brother player of all time! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join us on Patreon for more Diary Room!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vote in Battle Backs and even cast a vote for the actual Diary Room episodes! Follow us on BlueSky! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thediaryroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Twitter! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@diaryroompcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Facebook!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever feel like you're living someone else's script? Jillian Reilly is here to hand you The Ten Permissions, a gutsy, practical roadmap to step out of the box and into your own life. We cover permission to be willful (want what you actually want), how to reframe failure from "I am" to "I can", and why leaders don't need all the answers, just the guts to ask better questions. Jillian shows how to admit & commit without shame, why thinking small beats overwhelm, and what it looks like to go astray on purpose so you're ready for change when it comes. You'll also hear how to travel light, shedding old baggage so new options can actually show up. Website: https://tenpermissions.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianreilly Book: http://bit.ly/44GUoms Timestamps 00:00 Cold open & setup 06:48 The 23-Year Pivot: Cape Town or Bust 09:19 Listen First, Leap Second (Small Steps vs Someday) 12:40 Why Permission Beats Programs (Origin Story) 17:39 Permission #1: Be Willful (Want What You Want) 21:43 Approval Is Nice, Not Required 25:42 Failure Reframe: "I Am" → "I Can" (Try Small, Learn Fast) 31:44 Permission to Ask (Leaders Don't Need All the Answers) 35:37 Admit & Commit: "I Don't Know...Yet" 37:47 Permission to Think Small (Three Wins a Day) 39:01 Permission to Go Astray (Curvy Paths Build Readiness)

Introduction: Get a Grip! (1 Corinthians 3:18–23) You are not as wise as YOU THINK YOU ARE. (1 Cor 3:18–20) You are not lacking IN ANYTHING. (1 Cor 3:21–23) John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Corinthians 3:18-23What was your big take-away from this passage / message?In what way do you need to “get a grip” on reality in this season of life? What lies about God, yourself, and others are you tempted to believe?What does it look like to be wise according to worldly standards? How do you see yourself falling into worldly wisdom right now?What does Paul mean by “all things are yours”? How should this truth change your thinking and living? BreakoutPray for one another. AUDIO TRANSCRIPT 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 18 through 23.As Pastor Jeff admitted in a sermon a few weeks ago, we try to stay up to date on thelatest lingo since we worked with the youth group.Emphasis on try because new and nonsensical words and phrases seem to be invented on adaily basis.New slang always sounds ridiculous to older generations, even though your slang wasn'tthat much better back in the day either.Do you ever wish a certain slang word or phrase stuck around a bit longer than it had thatcaught on a bit more?I know I miss saying things like big whoop or cool beans or I'm disgusted by something.Gag me with a spoon or when someone says something really obvious I say no duh or how about wheneversomeone's annoying me I lift up my hand and say talk to the hand because the face ain'tlistening.Another one of my favorites someone asked you to do something that you really don't wantto do.Yeah let's not and say we did.But you know which phrase I miss the most?It's somewhat said today but not nearly as much as it used to be.Get a grip.Who's ever said that or heard that at some point?Get a grip.You say get a grip when someone is being unreasonable and is in desperate need of a reality check.This person believes something that is not true and this bad belief leads to a bad action.It leads to an overreaction.This person needs to let go of the lies that he or she is believing.This person needs to get a grip on reality.In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 18 through 23 Paul gives the Corinthians a much neededreality check.He tells them to get a grip because they are believing some things that are not true andthese bad beliefs are leading to bad decisions, erratic actions and massive overreactions.They are tearing the church apart with their selfish pride, with their worldly thinkingand their destructive division.The unity and purity of the Corinthian church cannot be promoted and maintained until theyget a grip on some essential truths from God's Word.Yeah we've been studying 1 Corinthians for almost two months now.Now let's be honest.As you read this book, as you listen to these sermons, it's really easy to look down onthe Corinthians, isn't it?It's easy to think, "Oh man, these people are insane.They're just wackos.Go get them Paul.They really need to talk into."What if you are more like the Corinthians than you think?What if you are believing some things that are not true?What if you are making some bad decisions right now?What if you are negatively affecting your family, your coworkers and this church?What if you need to get a grip?All of us, myself included, need to be grabbed by the shoulders and shaken back into realitybecause we all tend to live in a fantasy world of our own making.A fantasy world of lies, excuses and self-justification.You and I need the same exact reminders that Paul gives the Corinthians in this passagethat we're about to read because you know what?We're far more like them than we care to admit.You and I need to get a grip and remember some essential facts from God's Word.So before we get a grip, let's go to the Lord and ask that He would get a grip on us.Please pray for me that I will faithfully proclaim God's Word and I will pray for youthat you will faithfully receive it.Father, it's so easy to come into this room every Sunday and just pretend.Just to go through the motions, to put on a show where I pray against all of those things.I pray against pretending.I pray against stuffing down what we're really dealing with.I pray against hiding our sin.This morning we asked that you would reveal what we struggle with.You would reveal the sins that we need to deal with by your grace.I pray you'd help us to deal with these things in a biblical way.We ask all these things in Jesus' name.Amen.Get a grip.You are not as wise as you think you are.That's the first blank on your outline.Get a grip.You are not as wise as you think you are.Let's read chapter 3 verses 18 through 20.The apostle Paul writes, "Let no one deceive himself.If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that hemay become wise.For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.For it is written, 'He catches the wise in their craftiness.'And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile."Have you ever noticed that people who are the most confident tend to be the least competent?The most confident tend to be the least competent.That guy who praises his own handiness and fixes everything at home tends to make a lotof obvious mistakes.He does stuff around his house that no one would hire him to do around their house.That woman who praises her driving tends to be a really bad driver herself.She's looking down at her phone while she's driving.She's applying makeup.She's running red lights.She's not using turn signals when she's going through lanes.That guy who talks a big game in the golf cart tends to have zero game when he's drivingor putting.Or how about that person who says, "Yeah, I'm really calm under pressure."And then when something bad actually happens, they're just totally manic and panicked.And all of these examples overconfidence causes someone to overestimate his or her ability.And that is what Paul is talking about in these verses.A human sense of confidence in yourself makes you incompetent when it comes to spiritualmatters.Those who think they are wise by worldly standards are foolish by heavenly standards.They may appear to be brilliant in the eyes of the world, but what are they in the eyesof God?Stupid, dumb, foolish.When you're impressed with your own wisdom, you become a fool.And that rule is without exception in Scripture.Paul is crystal clear on this.He quotes the book of Job in Psalm 94 when he says, "God catches the wise in their craftinessand again the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile."And earlier he says, "The wisdom of this world is folly with God."You cannot outsmart God.You cannot trick Him.If you try, He will beat you at your own game.And again, we see this all throughout Scripture.Here are just two examples that spring to the top of my mind.In the book of Esther, Haman hatches a scheme to kill God's people and to hang his enemyMordecai on gallows that he had specially made.How did that turn out for Haman?Anyone remember?He ends up hung on the gallows that he had made for Mordecai.Yeah, not great as Pastor Jeff said.What about King Absalom?Well, he tried to be king.Didn't really work out for him.He rebelled against his father.He had this long, beautiful hair like Fabio that he really prided himself in.He tried to steal his father's throne.How did that go for him?He ended up caught in a tree branch by his own prided hair with three spears throughhis heart.He ended up as a human pincushion.Both men thought they were smart, but God caught them in their craftiness.They were both competent.Actually, they were confident in their own competence, but they ended up being incompetent.They had their own thoughts and plans that were proven to be useless by God.They were not as wise as they thought they were.Are you confident in your own competence right now?Are you trying to outsmart God?Are you trusting in your own human wisdom?Your own faulty understanding.You know exactly what God thinks about that sin you're indulging in, but you think thatyou can escape the consequences.And without even realizing it, you are bearing the consequences of your repeated and unrepentantdisobedience.You are dulling your conscience.You are pushing down the conviction of the Holy Spirit.You are pushing away faithful friends because you don't want to be found out.You know exactly what God thinks about giving of your time and treasure to the church andthose who are in need.But again, you think those rules don't really apply to you because your schedule is waytoo busy.Your bills are way too high.Your stress is off the chart, so you can't do those things.You know exactly what God thinks about your need to humble yourself and submit to others.But once again, that doesn't really apply to you because you're always right and thoseother people are always wrong.I mean, yeah, sure.Unity and all that jazz is really important, but you're the only one who really knows whatyou're doing.So if you don't get your way, everything's just going to fall apart, right?You know exactly what God thinks about how you should treat fellow believers and handleconflict in the church.But surprise, surprise, once again, you're a special case.You have been too mistreated to talk it out.You have been too hurt to forgive.Please stop elevating your importance because you will be humbled if you don't.Stop thinking that you can outsmart God because you will get caught in a trap of your ownmaking.Stop highlighting your wisdom because you are simply shining a spotlight onto your foolishness.You become a fool by thinking that you're wise.You may be wondering, okay, so how do I actually become wise?Well, Paul gives us a very simple answer in verse 18.Look at that again.He says, "If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a foolthat he may become wise."You become wise by submitting yourself to what the culture around you thinks is foolish.You willingly swallow the pill that most people willfully spit out in God's face.You passionately believe that God not only knows better than you, he knows what is bestin any and every circumstance.You sit under the authority of God's word rather than standing in authority above it.You care way more about the never-changing commands of God than your ever-changing opinions.You are far more concerned with meeting the needs of others than satisfying your own personalpreferences.Do you know what the greatest threat to harvest Bible Chapel is?It's not ungodly politicians.It's not ungodly public policies.It's not other religions.It's not persecution of Christianity.It's not even social media or secular entertainment.The greatest threat to this church is you.The greatest threat to this church is me.The greatest threat is you and I thinking that we know best.You and I insisting it's my way or the highway.That leads to stiff-arming one another.That leads to division.That leads to disunity.Do you know what the greatest unifier in the church is?A mutual agreement that God knows best and we don't.A mutual submission to the Word of God.A mutual agreement that we will do whatever the Bible says in regards to every subject,every issue, every problem.When a financial issue arises in this church, we deal with it in a biblical way.When gossip is being shared, we deal with it in a biblical way.When disagreement breaks out in a small group, we deal with it in a biblical way.When problems arise with the building project, we deal with it in a biblical way.How does that biblical plan sound to you?Are you on board with that?Are you willing to go down that path and do whatever this book says?Let me warn you, it's not going to be easy.If you are committed to that, you have to lay aside your temptation to show off, to proveyourself.You have to be unwaveringly committed to obeying the Word of God, even when it hurts, evenwhen it's hard, even when it smashes your ego to pieces and it will.You need to stop saying, "I think, I think, I think," it starts declaring the Bible says,the Bible says, the Bible says.As Pastor Jeff said a few weeks ago, what you think doesn't really matter.What God commands is of supreme importance.You need to stop deceiving yourself.You need to get a grip.Get a grip because you're not as wise as you think you are.Please do not resist this reality check because it is so freeing to admit that you don't haveall the answers.What God does.Get a grip.You are not as wise as you think you are.Get a grip.You are not lacking in anything.You are not lacking in anything.We've already seen that this unity and Corinth cannot be solved until all the members ofthe church put aside their pride and stop deceiving themselves.Each person must have an accurate understanding of himself or herself.But that's not enough.Each person must have an accurate understanding of others, especially those who were leaders.Paul talks about this at the beginning of verse 21, "So let no one boast in men."For the third time in this letter, Paul is talking about the favoritism controversy inCorinth.Some think that Paul is the best pastor around.Others believe that Peter is the goat of the apostles.Most believe that Apollos is the MVP of preaching and teaching.At this point in the series, you may be thinking, "Why do we keep talking about this over andover again?I get that this favoritism thing is bad, but why is it such a big deal to Paul?"Well, imagine it with me this way.Imagine that all the seating sections in this church are dedicated to one of the pastorson staff and his specific groupies.On the left side is Pastor Jeff's section.You all sit there.Are you guys the best section?I guess you can prove my point for me.On this section, you sit here because you love Pastor Jeff's conversational preachingstyle.You love his sense of humor.And to show your support, you eat funyons.You wear bright neon shoes.You hold up "I hate Mayo" signs.The middle section is Pastor Rich's section.He's not here right now, so we won't give him a big head today.I guess he has the most people.You sit there because you're enthralled by Pastor Rich's intelligence and his in-depthknowledge of God's word.And to show your support, you tell puns.You drink kombucha and you garden in your spare time.And the right side is my section.For the life of me, I can't figure out why you're all sitting over there.Over lunch, you can decide why you're sitting there and what you would do to celebrate mebecause I have literally no idea.Let me ask you, what's the problem with that seating chart?The church is literally and metaphorically divided.One section is boasting in Pastor Jeff, another is boasting in Pastor Rich, and a third isboasting in me.In that scenario, who is not being boasted in?God, the only one who is worthy of our boasting.God deserves the praise, not the leaders he put into place.Leaders are a window and God is the view that you see through the window.When you are watching a beautiful sunset from inside your house, you don't praise how cleanand efficient the window is that you're glimpsing through.You praise what you're getting a glimpse of.Godly leaders are a blessing, but God is the source of that blessing.Only leaders are a gift, but God is the ultimate giver.You need to have an accurate understanding of yourself.You need to have an accurate understanding of others.You also need to have an accurate understanding of all God has given you in Christ.Paul talks about this at the end of verse 21 and in verse 22.He writes, "For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world orlife or death or the present or the future, all are yours and you are Christ and Christis God."That statement is absolutely staggering.I could preach a series for an entire year just on that one statement.There is so much to unpack here, so let's just slow it down and take a small bite ata time so we can savor all the flavor in this passage.For all things are yours.Maybe you don't feel like you have very much.When you pull up your bank accounts, your retirement accounts, you're not really happywith the numbers that you see.Your house is way smaller than you would prefer.Your car has way more miles and way more issues than you would like.When you compare yourself to others on social media, it really seems like very little isactually yours.But that couldn't be any further from the truth according to the apostle Paul.The poorest Christian is wealthier than the richest non-Christian.Jeff Bezos may be one of the most successful businessmen in the entire world.As of this morning when I checked, he is worth $235 billion, far more than all of us if wecombined our net worths.Let me ask you, does Jeff Bezos own all things?No.Elon Musk, he owns X, Tesla, and he's even taking on space now, I guess.As of this morning, he has a net worth of $460 billion.Because even Elon Musk owns all things.He's not even close to owning all things.If you have trusted in Christ, you are far better off than either of these men who seemto be so far beyond you.All things are not theirs, but all things are yours.You may be wondering, "Okay, Taylor, I believe you because the Bible says so, but I justdon't get it."Well, let me show you because Paul gives us a detailed list of everything that belongsto you and belongs to me.First up, Paul or Apollos or Cethus.As they already said, all three of these men are gifts to be appreciated by the Corinthians.Each man serves, each man gives something that is unique to the church.And the same can be said for the pastors and elders here.We are here to glorify God by serving you.We are here to obey God by equipping you for the work of the ministry.The pastors and elders at harvest belong to you.We are here for you.And the same is true for every godly leader who pours himself or herself into your lifeand other avenues of life.Why play favorites when all of us are here to bless you and increase your spiritual health?It's like being gifted a house, only utilizing one of the rooms and blocking off the rest.Instead of doing that, enjoy the entire house.The kitchen can do things that your basement cannot.The closet provide a function that your dining room doesn't.Each room has a place and function in the house.In a much greater way, each leader, pastor, and elder in the church has a place or a function.Next up, the world.One day Jesus Christ will return to rule and reign over this earth.And do you know according to Scripture, you will rule and reign along with Him?How's that going to look?How's that going to work?I have no idea, but it sounds awesome.This may be a shock for you to hear, but there are a lot of ungodly people in authorityand power right now.When you notice, a lot of ungodly people are in charge of communities, cities, and countriesacross the face of this planet.And it may seem like they have more power than you do.But again, does the world belong to those ungodly leaders?Does the world belong to you?Yes.But once again, you have far more.All our apostles are seephis the world, life or death.When you trust in Christ's perfect life, His finished work on the cross, and His victoriousresurrection, you are given eternal life.And as Pastor Jeff often says, eternal life isn't just something you'll experience.Someday eternal life is something you experience right now.Jesus makes this clear in John 17.3.And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whomyou have sent.You have God as your Father.You have Jesus Christ as your personal friend, both now and forever.You no longer need to fear death because Jesus took the hell that you deserve upon Himself.Death can no longer lead you away from God.It can only lead you closer to God.For a believer, death is a homecoming.The present or the future.Once again, maybe your present doesn't seem very good right now.Maybe your present is a place you don't really want to be.But recognize every gift that you have is from the hand of God.Your friends, your spouse, your kids, your church, the clothes on your back, the foodin your stomach, even the difficult circumstances in your life are used by God to mold you intothe image of Jesus Christ.Every difficulty, every pain, every sickness is used to make you more like Him.God loves you like His own Son.But the Bible tells us that God not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all.We also will have to go through hard times.We will also struggle.One day the pain of this world will give way to the glories of heaven.Please know your God is so good to you right now.Because your appreciation of His goodness will exponentially increase in the futurewhen you stand in His presence.Finally, Paul provides a summary statement of what has been given to every Christian.All are yours, and you are Christ, and Christ is God's.Doesn't this statement kind of sound like one of those complex word problems on a mathtest or on the SATs?So break it down, understand it, let's reverse the logic of this text.Because this is an awesome math equation that adds up to an infinite sum.What does God own?I'm going to try that again.What does God own?Who is God's Son?If you were a believer, who do you belong to?Jesus.Therefore, if you belong to Christ, what belongs to you?Everything.I usually hate math, that's math even I can get behind.You own all that God has.You own literally everything.Your net worth cannot be calculated.You and I so often get sidetracked for our desire for more and more and more of whatthis culture has to offer.We get obsessed with accumulating more stuff that we cannot even take with us when we die.You and I lose touch with the spiritual realities of this text.You can lose track of all that has been given to you in Christ.You can grumble.You can complain.You can act ungrateful.There are some Saturdays where Kate and I pull out all the stops for the kids.We have a great breakfast.We go to the park.We go see a movie so they can stuff their face with popcorn, icees, and candy.We come back with them ride bikes.We round out the day with a delicious dinner.But then one of my kids is sulking, walking around upset.And I'll ask Sam or Amy, "What's wrong?"And one of them will respond by saying, "Oh, I'm just having a hard day."And I'm just blown away by that response."How in the world are you having a hard day?"Well, you and mom are being mean to me and you didn't let me have the second pack ofpirate's booty that I wanted.Are you serious?We gave you everything today and you're belly aching about one small thing that you don'teven need.In those moments, I want to give my kids a reality check.I want to give them a loud and clear message.Get a grip.You are so blessed.You are not lacking in anything.And Paul is giving you the same exact reality check.He is shaking you by the shoulders and saying, "You are so blessed.You are not lacking in anything.What do you want that you really need?"The answer is nothing, nothing.You may be struggling with your job or your roles as a stay-at-home mom, but you mustremember that you have been given the greatest calling of all, telling others about whatyou have received in Christ and what they can receive in Christ.You may feel lonely right now.You may feel isolated like no one cares about you.But you must remember that Jesus has gifted you with the Holy Spirit who lives insideof you and he will never leave you or forsake you.You may have a very broken and dysfunctional family or come from a very broken and dysfunctionalfamily, but you must remember that the Lord himself has taken you in and he has givenyou brothers and sisters in Christ who love you.You may not like your house very much.You may think it's the worst house on the block, but you must remember that Jesus himselfis preparing a place for you in heaven.You may not receive the biggest inheritance from your family, but as you read earlierin Romans, you are an heir of God and a fellow heir of Jesus Christ.You may feel cursed right now when life is hard and it's just one thing after another,but you must remember that you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlyplaces.Get a grip.You are not lacking in anything.If you choose to get a grip and remember these essential reminders, you will experiencea sense of joy like you've never known before.You will stop trying to build up more and more stuff and accumulate a kingdom for yourself.You will no longer be envious of what other people have because you are content with whatyou have.You will enjoy true unity in the life of the church because you're no longer in competitionwith other believers.Yes, all things are yours in Christ, but all things are also theirs in Christ.You own what they own and they own what you own.God doesn't play favorites with His children.We're all on the same equal footing.In the body of Christ, we all own all things.For most of this message I've been speaking to Christians, those who are Christ.I know there are people in this room who are not Christians, who are not Christ.I want to talk to you for a minute.First of all, I want to let you know that I'm so glad that you're here.It's my greatest desire that God would get a grip on you so that you can get a grip onthe reality of your situation.No matter how much you think you have, you have nothing that lasts.All things are not yours.But I have great news for you.Jesus offers you all of Himself.He offers you all that belongs to Him.And to receive it, you must let go of the garbage of this culture that you're holdingonto so you can grab ahold of His infinite riches.Come to Him empty-handed.Come to Him asking for forgiveness.Come to Him admitting your need for His grace.Why settle for nothing, both now and forever, if you can have all things for the rest ofeternity?The worship team can now make their way forward.You ever since childhood have had to deal with night terrors.I have very vivid dreams where I think things are not true and see things are not there.And this crazy thinking leads to some crazy behavior.I'll yell things out.I'll walk around the room.I'll even jump on the bed.Then all of a sudden, I'm snapped back to reality.I come to my senses.And every single time I feel so foolish.I think to myself, "How could I have thought those things?How could I have done those things?Why did I act that way?How can I stop this from happening in the future?"Maybe the Holy Spirit has done something similar for you this morning.I hope He has snapped you back to reality so you can stop living in that fantasy world.I pray that He has caused you to come to your senses so you will stop believing the liesof the enemy.Brothers and sisters, let me just say this one final time with all the love and care Ihave in my heart for every single one of you.Get a grip.Get a grip.You are not as wise as you think you are.You are not lacking in anything.Until you get a grip, your relationship with God will not be as strong as it could be.Until you get a grip, harvest Bible chapel will not be as strong in unity and purityas it could be.Let's pray.Father, we come to You, and we all admit that we all struggle with believing things arenot true.We all struggle with an inflated opinion of ourselves.Even when we think very little of ourselves, we are still focused on self.We all admit that we so often complain and grumble about what we don't have, and we failto remember all that you have given us in Christ, which is everything.For those who are discouraged this morning, help them to walk out of here encouraged bythe truth of your word.By those who came in here hard-hearted, may they walk out soft-hearted, Lord.For those who came in with their arms crossed not wanting to listen, may they come out worshipingYou and glorifying You for all that You have done for them and all that You continue todo for them.Lord, we thank You for who You are.We thank You for what You've done, what You are doing, and what You will do.We ask all these things in Jesus' name.Amen.

This mindset can make a long process less discouragingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This episode opens "Someday I'll Love" poems through the vivid imagery of a young poet's connection with their grandmother, remembering in love as memory begins to slip. Emerald ᏃᏈᏏ GoingSnake is an Indigenous poet from the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma. Winner of the 2024 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award for poetry and the recipient of the 2023 Indigenous Nations Poets fellowship, they live in St. Louis. Portrait by Erin Lewis Photography The poem was featured on Poem-a-Day and can be found at the Academy of American Poets. See here for the poem online. (https://poets.org/poem/someday-ill-love) Someday I'll Love— Emerald ᏃᏈᏏ GoingSnake —after Frank O'Hara like I dreamt of the lamb—slaughtered, forgotten, lying on porcelain tile, on crimson-filled grout— and woke up thinking of my grandmother, of her Betty Boop hands that held marbled stone, held dough-balled flour, held the first strands of my hair floating atop the river— like winter apples, the ones that hang outside my living room window and survive first snowfall to feed the neighborhood crows, how they fall beneath my boots, staining my rubber soles with epigraphs of rot, epigraphs of fors, of dears, of holding on till frost's end. Someday I will see long-forgotten fingerprints on the inside of my eyelids as I go to sleep, as I close my eyes for silence on a Wednesday, mourning—seeking—creases and smile lines, porch lights and swing sets, summer nights of lightning bugs and Johnny Cash. I think it will be a Tuesday, or maybe someday is yesterday, is two months from now, is going to be a day when I forget what I'm supposed to be remembering. For now, I will paint my nails cradle, adorn my skin in cloth that doesn't choke, tell my bones that they are each a lamb remembered. Copyright © 2024 by Emerald ᏃᏈᏏ GoingSnake. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on November 7, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets. Used by permission.

After another summer in the books covering all things Big Brother 27, Sharon Tharp is back in the Diary Room with us! We talk through some future-of-Big Brother speculation and pull another six names, covering all eras of BBUS! Each week in The Diary Room, a wheel of names will randomly select SIX players from North American Big Brother history to enter the bracket. In three separate head-to-head matchups, three players will advance to the next round and three players will be eliminated. Someday, we'll find the best Big Brother player of all time! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join us on Patreon for more Diary Room!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vote in Battle Backs and even cast a vote for the actual Diary Room episodes! Follow us on BlueSky! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thediaryroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Twitter! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@diaryroompcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mattliguori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@amanadwin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Facebook!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frank and Jane are in love, and so is the rest of the world.

In this month's Fix It or Free It Challenge update, we focus on shoes. The pairs we swear we'll fix but never do. We explore what happens when we realize we're holding onto things that no longer fit our lifestyle, comfort, or identity. This episode dives into the psychology of decision fatigue and identity clutter, showing how letting go can be just as powerful as repairing.Whether you're decluttering your own “to-fix” pile or following along with the challenge, this episode offers a thoughtful reminder: fixing brings satisfaction, but freeing something can bring peace.In this Episode, We Talk About:How to decide whether to fix, donate, or let go of an item you've been hanging onto. The psychological side of clutter, including identity clutter and decision fatigue. Why letting go of something you thought you'd fix can be an act of self-awareness, not failure.Mentioned in this Episode:Fix It or Free It Challenge 2025: monthly mindful decluttering series Previous projects: workbag straps, Halloween figurines, jewelry, backpack repair Follow and share your updates with us on Instagram @theorganizedflamingoJanuary: Replaced workbag strapsFebruary: Turned a dress into a skirtMarch: Decluttered the fix-it drawerApril: Fixed office cart wheelMay: Repaired two necklaces, donated the restJune: Added anti-slip pads to heels, freed an old pairJuly: Sewed hiking backpack pocketAugust: Let go of uncomfortable headphonesSeptember: Fixed or released Halloween figurinesOctober: Let go of two pairs of shoes I no longer loveReview full show notes and resources at https://theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Description: Today's guest is someone whose work has touched millions of hearts around the world. You probably fell in love with her through her luminous debut memoir ‘From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home', which was later adapted into a limited series on Netflix and became a global success. Tembi Locke has held many roles: accomplished author, producer, screenwriter, actor, artist, caregiver, child of divorce, mother through adoption, and widow to cancer. It is through her experiences in all of these spaces that Tembi has honed her ability to write, speak, and live from that rare place where grief and grace meet—where we can hold loss and love in the same breath. Her newest work, Someday, Now, is an immersive, breathtaking, and deeply personal audio experience that takes us on a journey back to Sicily, a place layered with memory, love, and loss for Tembi, as she prepares to send her daughter off to college. Through reflection, family, and the beauty of place, Tembi invites us to consider what it means to re-nest—to reclaim identity, purpose, and joy in a season of profound transition. Whether you're launching a kid, starting over, or simply remembering how to listen to your own heart again, this episode will speak to you in this season. Thought-provoking Quotes: “Sometimes in sharing the hardest things, we actually feel less alone.” – Tembi Locke “Sicily is that place of myth and nectar for me. It's one of those places on the planet that is supercharged with the best of what nature has to offer: sun, wind, the sea. It's a beautiful place. It's the place I return to when there's something I don't quite understand and Sicily makes me have to listen to it.” – Tembi Locke “I think when you get to midlife, you need to settle into yourself, be more present with yourself in order to show up for the big moments of change that are happening. Try to anchor in and be as present as possible.  Lean into the quiet spaces between the moments.” – Tembi Locke “How can we make space as families and really as mothers at this inflection point to quiet the noise and busyness of life? How can we slow down time, and really mark the moment and honor it?” – Tembi Locke Resources Mentioned in This Episode: From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by Tembi Locke - https://amzn.to/47s3ZhN From Scratch on Netflix - https://www.netflix.com/title/81104486 Attica Locke - https://www.atticalocke.com/ Someday, Now: A Memoir of Family, Reclaiming Possibility, and One Sicilian Summer by Tembi Locke - https://amzn.to/3LLKUyA Guest's Links: Website - https://www.tembilocke.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tembilocke/ Podcast - https://www.tembilocke.com/podcast Connect with Jen!Jen's Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen's Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen's Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen's Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen's YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices