The Unbroken Ground

Ep 30: Looking Back, I See Your Lead of Love

Hello fellow traveler! Want a wandering tale of how the podcast started and an update on what I am blogging about on Patheos? Boy, are you in luck!! Episode 30 is a look back. No one saw that one coming and playing four-dimensional chess and winning. In all seriousness, this was a good one to do a little reminiscing on and discuss what I have been blogging about since I took a bit of a break in June. Is Jesus calling you to the wilderness? Is your God too safe, and do your worship comfort rather than character building? God loves you just the way you are! But He loves you too much to leave you that way!

Ep. 29: Any Body?

Hello fellow travelers! I am wrapping up my thought process on unity with this podcast focused on community. Our culture lionizes self-reliance and abhors dependence, but does that reflect the Bible or something else? Where do you find community? Jesus told us that the world would know we were his followers through our love for each other. How are you showing that love this week? We only have so many hours and so much to do each week. Are you taking time to build up your community? 

Ep. 28: Are You Positive?

Hello Fellow Travelers! Still thinking about uniformity and unity. Looking further at the destruction and division that "You versus Me" and "I am right and you are wrong" culture brings to the Church. How do we live like Jesus and be able to say, "Your sins are forgiven," followed up by the expectation to "go and sin no more"? How do we live out a love that always hopes, trusts, and perseveres in a world that calls us to focus on being experts on who is right and who is wrong?

Ep. 27: Did You Bring Your Sword?

Hello fellow travelers! This week I continue the topic of unity versus uniformity. In the first part of the podcast, I discuss the awful truth that churches often enforce uniformity by denying community. Deep roots of dangerous uniformity can be traced to a lack of discipleship and not trusting the Holy Spirit to convict believers. In the second part of the podcast, I talk about a verse someone quoted on a Facebook post about loving your enemies. The lack of context in the person's comment and reading of the scripture made me meditate on it this week. Does Jesus intend that we should be ready to carry a sword against our enemies? Matthew 10:34-36 specifically references the instructions Jesus gives to His disciples when they are sent out. The reference to a sword and not peace was in light of family relationships. Hopefully, those aren't your enemies, but even if they were, the idea is that God is first, and out of our love for Him, only then can we love people well. 

Ep. 26: Are We Different?

Hello Fellow Travelers!! WHOA - we are halfway there! Living on a prayer! Episode 26 is recorded and released, the halfway point in my podcast journey. One a week for the next 52 weeks. Thanks to everyone who has downloaded it and continued to listen. I haven't released an episode yet with zero downloads, so at least one person or random AI bot is listening. :) This week, I continue to talk about unity and being different. I walk through my upbringing that anyone who wasn't in the same theological camp is likely wrong. And how I have moved on from that. The beautiful unity is found in doctrine and understanding the underpinnings of theology. I think about how the world should see the difference in our lives. 

Ep. 25: Who is the Boss?

Hello Fellow Travelers! How do you create unity? What type of authority best serves ministry and Christians? Is uniformity good enough? This week I am wondering how a church or organization can create unity. Typically, organizations use a culture of authority and tie it to a source of power. But churches, especially Baptist churches like my childhood was spent in, often have equal authority among members. Is there a clear idea of how Jesus created unity? 

Ep 24: What Would You do?

Hello fellow travelers! In light of the subtweeting/posting about truth and sin this month on the "Gram," this week's episode considers sins we don't like discussing. There is some rumination on truth and love and finding a good balance, but mostly my mind wanders into what would happen if Jesus showed up today. And he approached an average American Christian. And then Jesus asked that person to give up everything, sell everything, and follow Him. What if that person was you? What would you do and say?

Ep. 23: Let’s Go Fishing

Hello Fellow Travelers! What difference does Jesus make in how you live? Peter was a fisherman who Jesus called to be a fisher of men. But after Peter abandoned Jesus, Peter seemed to have second thoughts about whether he could still fulfill that calling. What insight can we learn about modern Christianity and how we are called to follow Jesus?