Unhurried Living | Helping Christians Rest Deeper & Lead Better

In today’s episode, Alan speaks with Ashley Hales about her new book A Spacious Life. You’ll hear a lot of intersections between her good thoughts here and Alan’s first book, An Unhurried Life. Alan’s book had a title focused on time. Ashley’s book has a title focused on space. But they are both talking about the great challenge and cost of hurry, and God’s invitation to live our lives at the slower and more fruitful pace of God’s kingdom.  Ashley Hales is a writer, speaker, and host of the Finding Holy podcast. She is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs and her writing has been featured in Christianity Today, Books & Culture, and The Gospel Coalition. Ashley is married to a pastor and the mother to four children.To learn more about Ashley and connect with her regularly, follow her on FB, IG or Twitter. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today I’m introducing the process of Notice, Discern, & Respond (or NDR). NDR is a supremely helpful progression for change, especially in terms of our thoughts. Once you become familiar with this simple idea, it can be an underlying way of life as you engage your own thoughts and feelings as well as your transformational journey.  The beauty of NDR is that it helps you make the move away from reacting and into the more helpful mode of responding. Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl, says it this way: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” I’m suggesting that NDR is one process you can engage in that space. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Hope is a deep and strong dynamic. I believe that deep down, we all have access to this gift. However, for many of us, it gets buried underneath the hard knocks of life. And yet hope gets uncovered, over time, as we make our way through our circumstances. Hope is that beautiful combination of two more life-giving dynamics: with and through. And, more importantly, it’s with and through with God. Today, on the I Can Do That Podcast, I’ll be sharing some of my personal stories of loss and how I made my way to hope THROUGH the circumstances.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today, I’m sharing a great conversation I had recently with my friends, Jeb Shore and John Freeman about how our obsession with productivity impacts the level of hurry in our souls. In An Unhurried Life, I wrote a chapter titled “Productivity: Unhurried Isn’t Lazy,” in part, to speak to this tendency to make assumptions about what makes our lives productive. The irony is that my over-busyness is more often a sign of a lazy soul that it is of a productive day.  The title, “Productivity and Our Hurried Souls” refer to something from An Unhurried Life, where Alan asked a question along these lines: “How productive is overwork anyway?” The point was that sometimes busy does not equate with productivity. We share some examples about how busy doesn’t always end up being as fruitful as we hope it will be?  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In today’s episode, Alan talks with fellow author, A. J. Sherrill about contemplative prayer. It’s such a timely practice for our frantic, hurried world today. We really do need wise mentor and coaches like A. J. to help us actually live the invitation to “Be still and know that God is…God is with us…God is at home in us through Christ by the Spirit.” We so need to learn how to be comfortable in solitude, silence and stillness.  AJ Sherrill has more than twenty years of experience as a pastor, including as lead pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is now lead pastor at St. Peter's Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. He is an adjunct professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he teaches popular courses on transformational preaching and the Enneagram. A. J. receives many speaking requests to lead Enneagram workshops across the country and is the author of The Enneagram for Spiritual Formation and a forthcoming book titled "Being with God: The Absurdity, Necessity, and Neurology of Contemplative Prayer". Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today, on the I Can Do That Podcast, we are talking about love. I realize it’s pretty audacious to think I can discuss this subject in a 10-minute podcast. Let me assure you, I am in no way covering the depths of God’s love or what it means to give and receive love. I am simply layering another part of our foundation. But I’m not going to talk about a prancing through the daffodils kind of love. I told you that we’re combining grounded optimism with practical spirituality and I meant it. This means, in part, that we try to explore as best we can (even large topics like love) and then take appropriate action based on our current understanding. Is this a perfect science? No. Is this a work in progress? Definitely yes. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Alan  and friends, Darrell Warner and Matt Fogle, share a great conversation about the issue of identity. In his book, "An Unhurried Leader", Alan wrote about how doing our work to prove our worth is a very common temptation for leaders. It can be surprising just how often insecurity is driving us to frenetic activity.   We too often imagine that our value or worth is hanging in the balance of how well we perform. But what if our value is already decided in our favor. What if our identity is a gift we’ve already received rather than a paycheck we still have to earn?  Welcome to the Unhurried Living Podcast. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

I’d like to propose an idea right up front here. Can we acknowledge that 100% of the time we do not know 100% of the story? I know this may be jarring to some of us. I, personally, like to think that I always know what’s going on. I’m an excellent mind-reader and an astounding predictor of outcomes. I hope you can tell that my tongue is firmly planted in cheek. We don’t actually know 100% of any situation, do we? After we settle into that level of humility, a beautiful dynamic can emerge: curiosity. Curiosity then leads to asking good questions, broadening our view and deepening our understanding. Today, on the I Can Do That Podcast, we’re talking about curiosity.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

If you could see me right now you would notice that my hair is at least four different colors. I tried easing into my grey hair last year about three months into the pandemic. “This is the perfect time,” I thought. But then, as it grew out, I began to doubt the aging process and decided to color again. Well, last November I decided to go for it one more time. So about four inches from my roots down is a wonderful mix of white and black, and the rest is a couple of shades of brown. Fortunately, from the front, it works and I look like I have some nice white highlights on the edges. What does my hair color have to do with anything? Well, today, on the I Can Do That Podcast, we are talking about transition. I hope you’ll join me. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today, Alan talks with Dr. Matthew Sleeth about his latest book, Hope Always: How to Be A Force for Life in a Culture of Suicide. It’s a difficult but timely theme. We’ve been living through a season that has stretched many of us to what feel like our very limits.  By the way, this episode is airing at the end of September, which has been Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. It seemed to be a very good time to have this conversation about a reality that is just the opposite of God’s great desire that we would live, and live abundantly and joyfully.  Dr. Matthew Sleeth is a former emergency room physician and chief of the hospital medical staff who resigned from his position to teach, preach, and write about faith and health. Dr. Sleeth has spoken at more than one thousand churches, campuses, and events, including serving as a monthly guest preacher at the Washington National Cathedral. Recognized by Newsweek as one of the nation’s most influential Christian leaders, Dr. Sleeth is the executive director of Blessed Earth and author of numerous articles and books, including Reforesting Faith and 24/6.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.