Unhurried Living

In this episode we look at grace. One of our mentors, Wayne Anderson, often reminded us that we are not only saved by grace, but we serve by grace, lead by grace, live by grace. In other words, the generous grace of God is not merely a doorway through which we enter this Christian life, but it is the pathway on which we live it.In this podcast we introduce you to our newest resource, Inhaling Grace: a 60-Day Unhurried Living Devotional.The grace of God is the atmosphere of his kingdom. We live by inhaling grace. These sixty devotionals are drawn from nearly thirty years of Alan's personal journal. The invitation in this devotional is to embark on a journey of being well shepherded by the grace of God. We learn just how surrounded we are by grace, moment to moment, day to day. We invite you to listen and enjoy breathing more deeply in God’s gracious presence. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today we are visiting with Rick Miller, author of Be Chief: It's a Choice, Not a Title and discussing the difference between being in a POSITION of influence versus being a PERSON of influence. We’re very aware that key leaders in organizational setting have titles that begin with the word “chief”—chief financial officer, chief operating officer, chief executive officer and such. Rick’s point is that “being chief” in this way is not mainly about holding a position as it is about expressing a way of leading that serves others. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Are you hungry to hear from God? Do you long for a closer, more conversational relationship with him? Today we are talking about how Jesus offers a personal invitation to listen to his voice and live in a remembered companionship of Christ. God’s Spirit gives God’s people real, workable, useful knowledge—if they will listen. He desires to teach us how to live—really live—and to live well. God is speaking to us by his Spirit to give us counsel and insight we need to live our lives and do our work well. When we “set our hearts” or “set our minds” on things above, I don’t think Paul is saying, “Be always thinking God ideas” or “having God feelings.” I think he’s saying something closer to “live in the remembered companionship of Christ.” I’m being invited to remember that He is always with me and I am always with Him. Something dramatic happens when we trust Him and entrust ourselves to Him. Something dies, and a real, hidden life begins. My life does not consist in the obvious realities around me down here. I l

Sometimes in the middle of an ordinary circumstance we can find ourselves at odds with what is occurring, even when there is nothing to be at odds with. This podcast is about prayer and presence. Not prayers. But prayer. Openness to God in any and every circumstance is prayer. Because, as we’ve said before, prayer is not something you do so much as it is someone you are with. Presence is key in all of our interactions with others. Learning to catch yourself when you are not fully present can reduce your own stress and can show others that you are completely engaged with them. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

One of the great hungers of the human heart is belonging. We want to be part of something. We want to be wanted by someone. “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:35) The context of the passage is that Jesus is speaking to a crowd gathered in a house somewhere in the neighborhood of Galilee. The passage just before it is one in which the crowds who gathered were so large that often Jesus and his followers didn’t have even a moment to get a bite to eat. Listen now to Mark 3:31-35: Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” We unpack that amazing last sentence: "Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and

We talk about how Jesus trained his inner circle, and how they came to know him better through times alone with him. We also talk a bit about the strategic importance of Jesus being alone with his Father daily in the week leading to his crucifixion. Be sure you listen to parts 1 and 2 (episodes #52 and #53) for the full experience of this content. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

This is the second episode in a three-part series on Paving the Way for Ministry Expansion in which I unpack Seven Key Moments in the Life of Jesus. If you missed Part 1, be sure to go back and listen to get up to speed. Today I’ll talk about Jesus’ pattern of stepping back to be with the Father then stepping out into more fruitful ministry. In today’s episode, which continues where I left off last week, I begin to unpack a pattern in the gospel of Luke that a friend of mine first pointed out to me. Every moment of ministry expansion or development in the life of Jesus is preceded by and grows out of a significant moment of His stepping back to be alone with His Father. You’ll see this as I talk about the first three of seven incidents of Jesus stepping back to be with the Father that are recorded in the gospel of Luke. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Recently, Gem and I led a training for a group of leaders. On the final morning, I talked Paving the Way for Ministry Expansion: Seven Key Moments in the Life of Jesus. Today I’m teaching on how prayer and leadership relate to each other and what this looks like in the life of Jesus. We’ve often said that one of our favorite parts of the work of Unhurried Living is consulting, training, or leading retreats for Christian leaders. And in those trainings, we always seek to include some unhurried time for each one to simply be alone in the presence of the Father. We see this as a way of following a strategic pattern in the life and leadership of Jesus. In today’s episode, I introduce a pattern in the gospel of Luke that a friend of mine, Shin Asami, first pointed out to me. Every moment of ministry expansion or development in the life of Jesus is preceded by and grows out of a significant moment of His stepping back to be alone with His Father. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire a

Alan and I recently celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary. About three weeks ago, I wrote a beautiful tribute to our long time love and sent it out to our email community. A week and a half later, we went on a celebratory trip that ended with us not speaking to each other on the plane all the way home. We’ll share the whole story with you today on the Unhurried Living Podcast! Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In today’s episode, we're sharing a recent conversation between Alan and Tim Timmons. If you listen to Christian radio, you may already be enjoying his music. Alan enjoyed catching up with Tim, as it had been a while since they'd last spoken. Recently, Tim was nominated for a Grammy for writing the Mercy Me song, “Even If.” (Here's a YouTube music video of it). It’s a powerful vision of trusting God for God’s own sake, and not just when God seems to make things go the way you prefer. A little about Tim: Like Alan, he was born and raised in California. For the last three years, though, he’s lived in Franklin, TN with his beautiful wife, Hilary and their four kiddoes. He’s spends a lot of his time writing and recording music and playing concerts around the country. You can find out more about Tim’s work on either his music website at timtimmonsmusic.com or on his blog at 10000minutes.com. We talk about all of this in our conversation. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about adv

We are continuing our conversation on An Unhurried Life. We'll talk about the signs of hurry in every day life, the dynamics that accelerate our inner life and what good gets squeezed out when we are hurried inside. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

It’s a fun episode today, because tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of Alan’s first book, An Unhurried Life. It is still gaining momentum and finding its audience. The word unhurried just really resonates with people. There’s a longing that people have, within our noisy, rushed culture, for a deep breath and a felt sense of peace. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Here's another prayerful practice you can use in the middle of a busy day to help you become present and remember that God is with you. We’ll envision ourselves on the ocean shore and I’ll share a few phrases from Psalm 42 and Psalm 145. So set aside what you are doing for a moment and let’s enter into the Ocean of God’s Love. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Join us on our podcast today as we talk about our "normal condition" and about living from within the source of it all...God Himself. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Spiritual friendship is a life-giving gift we give ourselves and others. There are likely people in your life who are struggling with self-doubt, fear or other issues. You can be a loving, listening ear and a quiet voice of encouragement. A simple sentence or two, shared at just the right time, may have a huge payoff in that person’s life. Don’t ever think that what you have to offer is too small. Small things matter. Quiet goodness offered often is a very good thing. So, we thought would share a bit about what spiritual friendship can look like. We have a few friends that we meet with in different ways. Sometimes as couples, others in one-to-one conversations. We’d like to share the dynamcis of these friendships and how we benefit from this level of friendship. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In these weeks following Easter, our church community has been focusing on “Resurrection: A New Life of Love.” The essence of the risen life is love. Living a risen life is living in Jesus’ way of love. We live in Southern California, and it can be a very hurried place. I have a little made up word to describe one way I experience the chronic hurry of our region. The word is “gronk.” “It is a contraction of green and honk, and it represents the nanosecond of time between the fresh green light in front of us and the angry horn blasting behind us. It is an inflammation of impatience. It is an utter lack of simple kindness. It is chronic and epidemic. And, bottom line, it is unloving.” In so many people there is an absolutely epidemic lack of patience and kindness—a lack of what Francis de Sales called “the little virtues.” Virtues like patience, humility, gentleness, simplicity, honesty, and hospitality lived out in your ordinary, daily life. They are little virtues because they aren’t the ones that tend to mak

I recently re-read Tina Fey’s Bossypants which is a really fun read. I was reminded about the four rules of Improv. It sent me on an online search for the rules and I stumbled upon the 11 Commandments of Improv by Del Close. Del Close was a coach to many of the Saturday Night Live greats like Dan Aykroyd, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, Gilda Radner and dozens more. It’s amazing how these simple rules can help actors keep a flow of conversation and story going in their improvisational scenes. We’ve thought before that these guidelines could be beneficial in relationship and in our conversations. We’ve tried these out in our own friendship personally and as we do our work together. These rules of improv have helped us to get unstuck on more than on occasion. I’ll start by sharing Tina Fey’s 4 Rules of Improv and then we’ll describe a bit how each one works relationally: Agree…say YES Say yes…AND Make statements (as opposed to questions) There are no mistakes (only opportunities) Listen to the podcast to see how we unpac

We’re talking about “Addiction” today. This isn’t so much about the substances, or relationships, or activities to which we find ourselves addicted. It’s more of a conversation about how the dynamics of addiction impact us. When we act on addictive impulses, it is like borrowing against future emotional resources. Having a few too many drinks to feel lighthearted or relaxed is like borrowing peace or joy from our future. Overeating as a source of comfort is like borrowing comfort from our future (leaving inevitable discomfort in my future). There is a physical reality that substance or behavior addictions stimulate or imitate certain brain chemicals in a way that results in less effective functioning of those parts of the brain next time. If I distract myself to avoid unpleasant feelings, I am borrowing concentration or focus from my future. If you resonate with the dynamics of addiction in some part of your life, this is an invitation to enter into the freedom of grace and our response of repentance. Let's f

What's it like to be a reservoir kind of person? Wouldn’t you like to live, relate and serve from a place of fullness, rather than continuing to pour out the last drop from your ever-emptying cup? We can learn how to treasure the goodness God is always pouring out to us, storing it up like a reservoir of abundance out of which we might bless and serve others without becoming empty. We can make space to let God fill our souls to the brim in relationship to him. This is how Jesus was able to accomplish all that he did. He often withdrew to receive love from the Father, to learn from him. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Engage with us as we talk about a dynamic that some will face in their spiritual journey, what John of the Cross called “The Dark Night of the Soul." It sounds kind of ominous and scary, but it’s actually just a place where our faith is given an opportunity for testing and refining. That doesn’t mean it feels good to us, but it is a good place. A while back, Alan wrote an article about the dark night for our blog. It’s one of our most visited posts. That’s because when you find yourself in a place like this, there’s a great thirst for insight and help. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.