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Send us Fan Mail Nostalgia can sneak up on you and suddenly you’re missing a version of life you can’t actually return to. After a weekend back in Colorado with old friends, I find myself asking why the “olden days” can feel so magnetic in midlife, and why trying to recreate them would only feel hollow. That tension opens the door to a better question: what am I really longing for? We lean on Jungian analyst James Hollis and his powerful reframing of the midlife crisis as the summons of the soul. The restlessness isn’t proof you failed. It may be a sign you’re right on schedule. We unpack how the first half of life often builds a functional self: responsibility, career, family, stability, survival. Then something shifts. The second half of life asks for the true self, the parts of you that got set aside because you had to be practical and reliable. From there, we get concrete about what helps and what hurts. Going backward doesn’t work: chasing old identities, chasing old relationships, chasing the feelings you had at 18. What does work is retrieval, moving forward while bringing back what you left behind. Creativity, play, courage, adventure, freedom, a sense of possibility. We also touch the spiritual language that echoes this inner change: letting go of false selves, becoming new, and learning to listen to what your soul is asking for rather than numbing it away. If you’ve felt anxious, restless, or quietly unfinished, press play and sit with the question: what part of you did you leave behind that’s asking to come home? Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s feeling the midlife pull, and leave a review so more people can find the conversation. Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail Some messages don’t just inform you, they pull your head up and make you look at people differently. We sit down with Rob Morris, founder and CEO emeritus of Love146, to talk about ending child trafficking and exploitation and why this work starts with seeing what others ignore. Love146 has spent more than two decades caring for survivors and building prevention education that helps young people identify vulnerabilities and recognize grooming. The hard truth is that trafficking isn’t only “somewhere else” and the hopeful truth is that communities can learn to protect kids through awareness, coordination, and courage.  From there, we move into a powerful thread from Colossians: the mystery of the gospel as “Christ in you.” Rob shares a story about how confirmation can awaken a person to what’s already true, and he invites us to live with that same awareness, not chasing perfect certainty but embracing wonder that leads to action. If Christ’s life is in us, it should show up in our attention, our choices, and our compassion, especially when it gets messy.  The heart of the conversation is the ache of being unseen. We explore why people on the margins can feel overlooked even in a crowded world, how distraction and “othering” strip dignity, and why Scripture shows God repeatedly moving toward those society passes by. You’ll hear stories of Jesus stopping, noticing, and drawing close and a challenge to become light and company for someone in the dark. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with one person you want to truly see this week. Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail Two questions can stop you in your tracks, the way a guard’s shout can freeze a stranger at the wrong gate: Who are you? And what are you doing here? Ryan opens with an old story about Rabbi Akiva taking a wrong turn and ending up face-to-face with a Roman garrison. The guard calls down those two questions, and instead of brushing them off, Akiva treats them like treasure, so valuable he’d pay to hear them every morning.  That’s the heart of this reflection: identity and purpose aren’t vague “someday” topics. They’re daily essentials. We talk about why so many of us move through life distracted and half-awake, invested in work routines and small ego projects while never really examining what we’re becoming. With Socrates’ warning about the unexamined life in the background, we lean into a simple contrast: asleep versus awake. Awake means honest reflection, clear priorities, and a life that matches your values instead of your momentum.  You’ll walk away with a practical, repeatable habit: ask those two questions each day, and let the answers shape your choices before the years slip by. If this landed for you, share the episode with a friend, subscribe for more reflections, and leave a review. What’s your answer today to “Who are you?” Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail Underneath everything we argue about, fear, chase, and try to control sits a claim that is either liberating or offensive: Jesus Christ is the center of it all. We walk through Colossians 1 and an early Christian hymn that calls Jesus the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over creation, and the One through whom all things were created. If you’ve ever wondered what God is like, we keep it simple and concrete: look at Jesus and watch how he handles power, how he treats annoying people, how he steps into suffering, and how the cross shows love from underneath rather than domination from above.  Then we move from the personal to the cosmic. Colossians says “in him all things hold together,” and we explore what it means to call Jesus the Sustainer, the “cosmic glue” that makes the universe a universe and can bring coherence to a life that feels like scattered instruments warming up in the same room. We also name the pressures the first Christians faced in Colossae, from legalism and asceticism to angel fascination and secret-knowledge spirituality, plus the real social cost of refusing to worship the local gods. The message is blunt: Christianity is Jesus plus nothing.  Finally, we lean into resurrection life. Jesus is the firstborn from the dead, the start of new creation bursting into the old world right now, and that means you are not done yet. There is forgiveness, restoration, and a steady hope for anyone carrying pain, addiction, illness, loneliness, or injustice. Next week, our friend Rob Morris from Love 146 joins us, and we’ll also hear more about their work to end child trafficking and exploitation.  Subscribe for the rest of the Colossians series, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review that tells us what line you can’t stop thinking about. Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail A strange greeting like “Happy Maundy Thursday” can sound like code, and we get it because church language can feel like trying to explain a sport nobody’s ever watched. So we slow down and tell the story in plain words: the night Jesus gathers friends for a Passover meal, then flips every expectation with a towel, a basin, and the kind of love you can’t control. We walk through the Last Supper as more than a tradition. Foot washing becomes the shock that exposes our discomfort with vulnerability, especially when we’d rather serve than be served. Jesus tells Peter that this can’t be earned and it can’t be negotiated, it has to be received. Then comes the mandatum, the command that gives Maundy Thursday its name: love one another as I have loved you. That’s agape love, not sentimental, but chosen, self-giving, and defining for Christian discipleship. From there, we connect the command to abiding in God’s love and to communion, where bread and wine become a visible promise of a new covenant. And we don’t keep it theoretical. We talk about “hard tables” where love feels risky: grief, divorce, depression, addiction, estrangement, and the people we’d rather avoid. The question that lingers is simple and unsettling: how will I be different because of this night? If this helped you see Holy Week with fresh eyes, subscribe for more, share it with a friend who’s curious about Jesus, and leave a review so others can find the conversation. What’s one “hard table” you feel called to show up to with love this week? Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail Easter isn’t asking you to admire a nice message about springtime. We’re talking about a claim that is either breathtakingly true or totally disruptive: Jesus is raised bodily, seen and touched, and that resurrection is the first sign that God is making everything new. We lean into why humans ache for endings and closure, then we trace how Scripture dares to give one. Revelation 21 describes a renewed world with no more death, mourning, crying, or pain, and with God present among people. That vision is not escapism and it is not a floating-soul-afterlife. It’s resurrection, restoration, justice, and healing on a cosmic scale, a new heaven and new earth where chaos and evil don’t get to stay. Then we sit in the tension we all feel: the future has dawned, but it’s not fully here. We still grieve real losses, face real diagnoses, and watch real destruction on the news. Christian hope doesn’t minimize any of it. It argues something sharper: the worst thing is not the last thing. Because we know the ending, we can practice resurrection right now by bringing life where things are dying, standing with people facing injustice, sharing with those in need, and doing small faithful acts that participate in the renewal of the world. If this gave you hope or challenged you, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it. Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail We’re wired to love winners, which makes Holy Week oddly uncomfortable. Easter Sunday is bright and obvious, but Good Friday is slow, humiliating, and hard to look at. That’s exactly why we need it. I talk about why I used to avoid crucifixes, why an empty cross can feel easier, and why the Christian story insists that resurrection hope comes through the cross, not around it. A trip to Assisi and the story of Saint Francis praying before the Cross of San Damiano reshaped how I see Jesus’ suffering. That crucifix became more than religious art for me; it became a reminder that God’s victory is revealed in what looks like defeat. Drawing on Martin Luther’s theology of the cross and the idea of the “hidden God,” we explore how God can appear absent in pain while being most present, meeting us with real solidarity in loneliness, grief, and brokenness. We also get practical about Christian discipleship during Holy Week: not seeking suffering, but refusing to deny it, letting go of self control and self reliance, and learning to trust God when things feel lost. If you’ve been rushing to the “happy ending,” consider this an invitation to slow down, sit with Good Friday, and discover what kind of hope can actually raise the dead. If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find these Holy Week reflections. What helps you stay present to Good Friday instead of skipping ahead? Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail Rome didn’t just rule with soldiers, it ruled with stories. One of its loudest stories was the Roman triumph: a victory parade that crowned the emperor, filled the streets with incense, and trained everyone to believe that real power looks like dominance, spectacle, and control. We’re at the penultimate week of our Journey To The Cross series, and we argue that Mark wants you to see Jesus’ crucifixion through that exact backdrop. We walk through the triumph step by step, then watch Mark 15 echo the same images in startling ways: the Praetorium, the purple robe, the “crown,” the procession, the offered wine, the place of the skull, and even two figures at the right and left. What looks like humiliation becomes a deliberate subversion of empire. The moment that lands it all is not a cheer from the crowd but a confession from a Roman centurion: “Truly this man is God’s son.” Mark’s Gospel reframes Good Friday as the real victory parade. From there, we press the question into everyday life. If the cross is triumph, then power is not power-over. It’s power-under, expressed through self-giving love. That has consequences for how we handle conflict, politics, relationships, and the temptation to organize life around winning. As Holy Week approaches, we end with a simple invitation to respond to God, even if you’re unsure where you stand. Subscribe for next week’s resurrection message, share this with a friend who’s wrestling with faith and power, and leave a review to help others find the show. What’s one area where you feel pulled toward “power-over” right now? Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail “What must I do to be saved?” sounds like it should have one clean answer. We can quote Paul in Romans without blinking: confess Jesus as Lord and believe in the resurrection. But when people bring that same question to Jesus in the Gospels, he refuses to hand out a single script. Instead, he responds with startling, specific words that feel less like a formula and more like a diagnosis. We walk through four encounters that make this clear: the rich young ruler who can’t loosen his grip on wealth and control, the lawyer who wants to shrink the definition of “neighbor,” Nicodemus the respected teacher who needs more than religion and intellect, and the woman at the well who longs for living water that finally satisfies. Each conversation points to a different barrier, and each reveals something about how Jesus leads people into eternal life, the kingdom of God, and true worship. The thread running through all of it is painfully personal: Jesus goes after “the thing” we cling to most, the attachment that blocks us from receiving a full, robust life in him. If you’ve ever wondered why faith can feel stuck even when your beliefs feel right, this reflection will help you name what might be in the way and what it could look like to exchange your life for Christ’s life. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail Five people stand near Jesus as he suffers on the cross, and that detail changes how I read John 19. While so many disappear into fear, Mary, Mary Magdalene, Salome, Mary the wife of Clopas, and John stay close enough to be counted. That’s not just courage. It’s a picture of Christian community being formed in real time, where love is stronger than reputation, comfort, or self-protection. We walk through who each person is and what their presence says about discipleship. Mary of Clopas is almost unknown, yet she shows up. Salome has a history of misunderstanding Jesus, yet she refuses to abandon him. Mary Magdalene carries a story of healing and transformation that helps us name the way oppression and shame can crush a life until Jesus restores it. John, likely young, stays when the other disciples run, and Jesus entrusts him with Mary’s care, creating family through faithfulness. Then we bring it home to the loneliness epidemic. Even with constant digital connection, isolation is rising, with serious effects on mental health and physical health, and kids are often hit the hardest. The question becomes painfully practical: who is your community when you’re broken, confused, grieving, or celebrating? And if you don’t have one, what step can you take today to start building it through the church, small groups, and consistent relationships. If this message challenges you, share it with a friend who needs real support, subscribe for more from Journey to the Cross, and leave a review so more people can find a path from loneliness to community. Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail A crowd can make good people do ugly things, and sometimes the scariest part is how normal it feels while it’s happening. We start with a haunting detail from Mark’s Gospel: while Jesus is being crucified, random passersby still stop to hurl insults. Why would someone who has nothing to gain join in? What kind of social force turns bystanders into participants, and turns cruelty into a group activity? We connect that question to a simple story from childhood where a group of friends panics, then saves itself by blaming one outsider. That instinct to preserve unity by choosing a target is exactly what French philosopher Rene Girard explored through mimetic contagion and the scapegoat mechanism. When tension rises, emotions spread, and a community unconsciously offloads its conflict onto one person, the group feels united again, but the “peace” comes at the victim’s expense. It’s an unsettling framework for understanding mob behavior, public outrage cycles, and why cancel culture can feel satisfying even when it’s unjust. Then we return to the cross and see something shocking: Jesus refuses to retaliate. Instead of returning violence with violence, he absorbs it and speaks forgiveness, exposing scapegoating for what it is. We end with a practical invitation for Lent and beyond: resist the pull of the crowd, stop hunting for scapegoats, admit our own need for mercy, and follow a way that actually heals. If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review, and tell us where you see scapegoating showing up today. Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail Mockery feels small until it hits the core of who you are. On a snowy morning, we keep walking the Lenten journey to the cross and sit with one of the hardest scenes to read: Jesus being laughed at, dressed up, spat on, and publicly shamed. Sonia Knutson starts with a story many of us recognize, the sting of being judged for something as simple as a pair of shoes, and then invites us to notice what shame tries to do to our identity. From there we zoom in on the Gospel of Mark and why it dwells on the brutality. Soldiers drape Jesus in purple, press on a crown of thorns, and perform a sarcastic “Hail” that was meant to degrade Him. Passersby, religious leaders, and even those crucified beside Him pile on. We wrestle with the question Mark forces onto the page: does this make Jesus look weak, or does it reveal a God who chooses vulnerability and love over self-protection? The turning point is irony. The mock coronation becomes a real coronation, and the King they ridicule is the King who rises. We also bring it home: the bandwagons we jump on, the ways we conform for approval, and the danger of “fake faith” that goes through motions while daily life says none of it is true. If you want a deeper, more honest Christian faith this Lent, hit play, then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review with the line that challenged you most. Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail The crowd can be loud, confident, and completely wrong. We’re in the Lenten stretch, and I want to talk about a trap that shows up everywhere from pop culture to politics to Holy Week: the madness of crowds and the craving to be approved by them. I start with a Rick and Morty moment that cuts straight through performative outrage: “Your boos mean nothing to me. I’ve seen what makes you cheer.” It’s funny, but it also stings, because it exposes how often we let applause and criticism steer our choices.    From there we dig into Tulip Mania, the 1630s economic bubble where a flower bulb could trade for the price of a house. It sounds absurd, but that’s the point: when herd mentality takes over, irrational behavior feels normal. We connect that to a modern flashpoint with Team USA hockey and how quickly the public can crown heroes and then reverse course. To put science behind the instinct to conform, we talk through the Asch conformity experiment and why so many people will say the wrong thing out loud just to avoid standing out.    Then we turn to the Passion story and Jesus before Pilate. Pilate knows Jesus is innocent, his wife warns him, and yet he caves to the mob, offering Barabbas and washing his hands while the crowd demands crucifixion. The question we keep circling is simple and hard: what do you do when the crowd cheers for the wrong thing, or boos the right thing? If you want a grounded, faith-filled way to think about approval, courage, and truth during Lent, press play. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review, then tell us: where do you feel the strongest pressure to conform? Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail A stranger is yanked from a crowd and everything changes. We follow Simon of Cyrene, an African pilgrim likely in Jerusalem for Passover, as he’s forced to shoulder Jesus’ cross—a single-verse moment that quietly reshapes church history and discipleship. Why do three Gospels preserve his name and even mention his sons? Because this “minor” detail anchors the Passion in lived reality and reveals how an interruption can become a calling. We open the scene with the gritty backdrop of Roman crucifixion: a system designed for humiliation, control, and spectacle. Then we trace a linguistic thread—“compelled”—back to the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus reframed coercion with the second-mile ethic. Luke’s note that Simon carried the cross “behind” Jesus is not throwaway; that’s rabbi-disciple language. Without a class or creed, Simon steps into apprenticeship by posture: following under the weight of the cross. The tool of domination becomes, in his hands, a path into redemption’s story. From there we connect names and cities. Mark’s habit of precise detail echoes Peter’s eyewitness preaching; Paul’s greetings to Rufus in Romans hint that Simon’s household became known believers in the Roman church. That line—from Jerusalem’s streets to Rome’s house churches—shows how the Gospel moved through ordinary people and unplanned moments. We also wrestle with our own “what-if” points, recognizing how accidents, interruptions, and detours often carry sacred possibility when we choose to follow rather than grasp for control. If you’re weary of interruptions or unsure how to carry what’s been handed to you, this conversation offers a clear, grounded invitation: recover your agency by getting behind Jesus, one step, one mile, one yes at a time. Listen, reflect, and if it helps you see your day differently, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review so others can find the show. Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org

Send us Fan Mail What if the difference between a grounded life and a regretful one is as simple—and as hard—as paying attention? We connect three vivid scenes: a bodyguard’s rule for staying safe, a culture bent over its phones, and a midnight vigil in the Garden of Gethsemane. The thread is attention—how we give it, how we lose it, and what gathers at the edges of our lives when we stop keeping watch. We start with practical awareness: “head on a swivel” as a habit that prevents trouble long before it arrives. From there we move to the everyday drift of modern distraction, from the Chipotle line to school cafeterias where friends eat side by side while living in separate screens. It’s not an anti-tech rant; it’s a candid look at how devices reshape posture, presence, and even identity. Then we step into the garden, where Jesus seeks the highest good in focused prayer while his closest friends fight sleep. Their spirit is willing, their flesh is weak, and the consequences unfold in real time as betrayal approaches from the margins. Along the way we name the “small foxes” that slip by when we’re not awake—intrusive thoughts, low-grade complaints, and pockets of unforgiveness that breed in the dark. We offer simple, actionable ways to reclaim attention: look up and scan your surroundings, create phone-free meals, take silent walks, and close the day with a brief inventory of where you were most awake. With Lent as a guide, we explore repentance as re-aimed attention—turning from numb drift toward God, family, friends, and the present moment that keeps asking for our whole selves. If this resonates, share it with a friend who could use a nudge to look up. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what will you keep watch over this week? Join us!   Facebook   |   Instagram   |   www.clcelkriver.org