Success = Love and Safety, Right? - Randy RalstonIs the safety we find in our performance and success truly safe?Randy learned at an early age that Grace existed… but in a performance based environment. He excelled in everything he did, and that led to a sense of safety. The stress of continued performance led him to finally break, learning in the process that God would continue to use him to lead others to healing even though he was broken and resisted letting God heal some of his deepest wounds.This podcast could also be called, Finding Fulfillment apart from God.My guest is longtime friend and co-sojourner Randy Ralston.At age 10 Randy’s impression of God was that he was Angry, Capricious, Pernicious and demanded obedience, led with fear and shame. Randy's understanding of God’s personality was influenced by his relationship with his parents. These relationships led to a perspective of God that was centered around fear. The fear that “If you don’t perform, or worse yet, you disobey, are disrespectful or dishonor your parents,” there would be punishment and ultimately rejection.Randy opens up and shares how one, seemingly insignificant moment, defined the relationship with his mom and impacted his personality and his perception of God. This moment of perceived rejection, led Randy to a deep pursuit of acceptance and significance.Randy shares how his identity became what he did and what happened to him. This reinforced his perception that performing was the only way to find significance, and importance in the lives of those around him.Over the years, it appears that Randy transformed this performance personality into a mission to make things better for everyone around him. This led to the idea that, not only could Randy perform enough to find a stable, safe place in the relationships around him, but he could provide that for others as well. He tried to be the hero in the lives of his family. Often saving them when they hadn’t asked to be saved.Eventually, all these efforts to continually perform and save himself and others from the pain of punishment and the ultimate punishment, rejection, became too much of a burden to shoulder. Randy had found his breaking point. He responded by pushing even deeper into helping and serving others while covering the stress fractures that were showing up with alcohol. The harder he pursued success and significance through performance the more alcohol he needed. It started with drinking at the end of each day and led to drinking all day.Now, 30 years later Randy says he can’t come close to understanding who God is, but that his earlier perspective has proven to not be true. While he can’t explain who God is, Randy knows that God is Really Really Good.Randy and I discuss how God is not the Angry God that we perceived him to be. How the older he gets, the more Grace filled Randy learns that God really is.Randy sees that God used him even as broken as he was, to touch and influence the lives of those around him. Even though Randy had not let God into the areas in his own life that he was touching in the lives of others.“God uses the most broken parts of me, the most effectively in healing of others.”#Omnipotence #Alcoholism #Brokenness #Success #Healing #RealGrace #GodIsGood #Family

On today’s episode, I talk with Steve Hawkins about addiction; specifically to Alcohol. For Steve, alcoholism was not the stereotypical journey. His story is not what you normally think of as that of an addict. For years Steve was a highly functioning alcoholic. He was successful at work, in his public life, and even at home. But alcohol still had a grip on his life and eventually it brought him to a breaking point. Steve lived a double life. For years Steve struggled as a living Jekyll and Hyde. Playing the excellent Dr. Jekyll at home and work, all the while hiding his drive to break free from the stress of success and finding relief in times alone as Mr. Hyde with a drink.Yet, God had an eye on Steve. God had a plan for Steve and he walked with Steve until on a business trip, alone in his hotel room, Steve got down on his knees and surrendered completely to God’s will. Join me as I learn what it’s like to be an alcoholic. What are the struggles mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually for someone who has addiction. Maybe you or your loved ones share some of the trauma of not being a good husband, father or friend. Maybe you’re living the double life. Maybe you're finding success at work, but it's coming at the price. Maybe you've got pain or stress that you're using alcohol or something else to mask to hide or to cover up. There is hope. There is redemption. There is a way to set things right and make amends for your past. There is a brighter future. A beautiful sunrise ahead of you. If you’re reading this, God has his eye on you. He is looking forward to walking you into that brighter future. He loves you and has a plan for you. Join me in this podcast and maybe, just maybe, you'll begin to see that future, that beautiful sunrise that's just ahead of you after the darkness you're in now.

Born and raised in South Korea, for Jung being a Christian was a cultural and family thing. It wasn’t until his family moved to America that in a High School church group, Jung found his hunger and thirst for God. Then he spent a year in the wilderness, as a freshman in college as the only Korean at USD in Vermillion South Dakota. He was a long way from home and without friends or even others that spoke his language. He had to struggle with loneliness as he had to learn to speak English in order to be a successful college student. The summer after his freshman year Jung realized that he had lost his hunger and thirst for God. He decided to take a chance and go to a college student retreat and the last night he heard from God in a miraculous way. The intimate way God spoke to Jung reignited his fire and hunger for walking with God. Jung changed his mind and decided to go back to the small university in the small town in South Dakota. What was a barren wilderness had become a land flowing with milk and honey. Over the course of the next several years Jung quickly became involved in worship ministry for several organizations. He had gone from having no friends on campus to being the guy to know if you needed someone to lead worship. Jung can look back and see how God was there even in the dark times. You’ll want to listen for the details and the rest of the story.#Journey #Wilderness #Lonely #WorshipLeader #Immigrant

This episode could also be titled, “The Broken - Unbroken. When life broke them, Christ held them together.”I laughed. I cried. This story will move you. Farmer Todd grew up knowing that he would happily fulfill his family expectations of being a sugar beet farmer on the family farm outside the little northern Minnesota Town of Climax. But instead of this being the pinnacle of his life, God said it's just the beginning.Today Todd shares how he faced the loss of dreams, letting his parents down when he felt called to something instead of farming, and countless other times in his life of darkness and insecurity of the unknown future. Todd has chosen intentional Faith in God and how God has delighted in blessing him through the trials. One of these big trials of the unknown future was as Todd and his wife Karen fought cancer for 16 years, terminal cancer for 8 of those years. While raising two kids in the middle of their fight, Todd and Karen didn't just talk about a loving God. Their kids saw a loving God show up time and time again. Todd shares an excellent example of how his wife parented children who grew up watching their mom fight cancer and prepare for her departure. Todd shares his struggle as a widower following the loss of half of himself. God doesn't focus on how we're not like him, but instead on how He makes us like Him. #Aloneness #Loneliness #Healed #AnsweredPrayer#Providence

WIG 2-10 Harold BerryThis is a story of a life pursuing God and the ministry of serving God. Harold continued to pursue serving God using the gifts, opportunities and relationships provided to him.At 89, Harold as a widower has met a Widow Mary and the 2 are to wed. Even at their age, God still has a purpose to unite Harold and his new bride.“If you want to hear God speak audibly to you, read the Bible out loud.”The importance of discipleship. follow up. Not just drinking in the word of God, but sharing it.Follow-up.Receive - Something to ReadReflect - What does this mean to youRespond - Apply it , Share it with someone else.Develop and memorize a short testimony that you will never wonder what to say when you meet a stranger.Join the Conversation https://www.facebook.com/WhoisGodpodcast/https://tackleboxstudios.com/More on Harold Berryhttps://www.backtothebible.org/Harold J Berry Books on Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/s?k=harold+j+berry&i=stripbooks&crid=OENE6QO7GAG7&sprefix=harold+j+berry%2Cstripbooks%2C98&ref=nb_sb_noss

Today I talked with the founder of Greatest Life Ministries, and the North American Director. “There is a quality of life that is the greatest possible.”Solves the Greatest ProblemBrings the Greatest GoodProvides the Greatest Future.Michael and Graham share how you and I can live the Greatest Life. And.. There's nothing we can do. It’s letting Christ live in us. We actually have to die to ourselves and Let Christ live the life while taking us along for the ride. This seems a little unbelievable. Join me as they help me understand that I can live the Greatest Life.If you’ve missed either of these men’s stories, you can listen to Graham Stamford in Season 1 Episode 1 https://rss.com/podcasts/whoisgod/1150256/Michael Wolfe in Season 2 Episode 8  https://rss.com/podcasts/whoisgod/1374995/Find us and support us through donation on Tackle Box Studios at https://tackleboxstudios.com/Or on https://www.facebook.com/WhoisGodpodcast

Born in Iowa, growing up on a farm, in a small town. Though he grew up in a mainline denomination, found himself interested in and looking to the Baha’i faith.While in High School, Michael saw the immediate answer to a prayer. This led to an immediate belief in God. He became a Christian, but says he hadn’t met Jesus. This new faith caused some changes in him that made him look at the world very differently. What Michael calls sin, became very apparent to him. But he still didn’t know what it meant to be a Christian. He learned very clearly over the next several years that he was a sinner and needed his sins forgiven. He understood that Jesus was the payment for those sins. Frustrated that he continued to sin, no matter how hard he kept trying. Michael was becoming disillusioned in living the Christian life, maybe even being a Christian.It wasn’t until he heard a guest speaker in Bible College say, “You can’t live the Christian life, so stop trying.” Stop trying really hard to be a Christian. Wait?!? What?!?Michael says he learned that day that He couldn’t live a Christian life and wasn’t expected to. If his life was going to be meaningful, fruitful, it was going to be God’s work in his life. It was going to be Jesus living in Michael that was meaningful. This was when Michael met Jesus. Jesus didn’t die to get us out of Hell and into Heaven. Jesus came to get out of Heaven and into Us.You can't become a better person. You can't become holy. Only Jesus working in you can accomplish these things. Hear how Michael's life has changed since he stopped trying to be a better Christian and let Jesus do the work in him. It has been Christ in Michael. "You can't but He can!" What does it mean to let it be Jesus in You?

This is a Story of a broken life that God called to himself. How God provided rest in spite of a journey of brokenness.Carlos, born and raised in Brazil, now living in America. Carlos was led on a journey following a broken model of his father and other men in his life, that took him down a destructive road of seeking fulfillment in worldly success, seeing women as objects to bring him pleasure, but little more.After College, Carlos found himself respected professionally, but detestable in his personal life. This left him feeling alone, rejected, and insecure. He had a deep desire to stop hiding his failures. He had a desperate need to be known and loved in spite of his detestable life. He was tired of carrying the guilt of his broken actions. Along the path God gave Carlos glimpses of a Shalom Peace that he deeply desired, but could not find. The misconceptions of the character of God, "Who God Is" left Carlos running from God, avoiding Him for fear of being rejected, condemned and justly punished for all the things Carlos had done and even continued to do.Yet God continued to pursue Carlos, eventually leading him to a place where Carlos was willing to, having looked everywhere else, look to God's Word, scripture, the Holy Bible, for truth, answers and the Peace he so yearned for, but could not find.Join me as we hear the story of how God becomes a father for Carlos that he did not have with his earthy father. How Carlos talks about the personal interactive relationship with a God who loves him, sees him, hears him, and lovingly guides him.If Carlos can experience God in this way. Maybe you can too.

In this episode Pastor John and I talk about a lifelong struggle of guilt, shame, fear, loneliness and rejection that was the result of being introduced to pornography and addiction at a very young age. He shares how he carried this weight alone while growing up as a pastor's kid, through bible college, having false authenticity that prevented deep meaningful intimacy with his wife and even into his time as a pastor. “My Struggle with sin means I’m not acceptable.”The constant fear of being found out and the rejection that surely would follow drove a desire to perform for God and those around him. John would teach others about God's love for them while never feeling it for himself. “I didn’t know that freedom from Sin, Guilt, Shame, was even possible.”John shares the struggle and fear of being completely honest with his wife. "When you’re trapped in something like this, you can’t be authentic." So there was no real intimacy in their relationship. He shares some of the pitfalls they encountered and wrestled with while trying to find healing for John, his wife and their relationship. He shares what they went through to eventually find healing and restoration in their marriage. "Wearing the mask leaves you, feeling loved for what you’ve done, not for who you are”All the time God was faithful, continually nudging and pursuing John to a place of healing. "You can’t be accepted if you’re not known, and you can’t be known if you’re not vulnerable." "Vulnerability is scary, but it’s worth it." John is learning how to have a relationship with God that’s based on who God is and who God is making John to be vs what John can do to please him.#Pornography #Addiction #Guilt #Shame #StuntedSpiritualGrowth #Depression #ThereIsHope #PureDesire

Join me as I sit with a childhood friend who has been dragged through the muck of life. He will share how he moved from failure as a man, father, husband, leader and Christian into a life where he walks hand in hand with God each day. We'll talk about Divorce, Loss of Identity, Brokenness, fruitless efforts at earning Grace and thoughts of Worthlessness and Suicide. Learn how community, especially Christian community can offer healing. Hear how God showed up and affirmed how amazing Drew is, even when Drew didn't think so. Drew will share how his community loved him back to mental and emotional health; How he learned to allow himself to be loved by God; and realized that God was always and continues to love Drew and work for his good.If you can relate with any of this, this is an episode you need to hear and share.#Grief #Loneliness #BorrowedFaith