And Sons

We roped in And Sons strategist Jon Dale to riff on a growing concern. It’s education. Problem is, when most folks think of education, they think of mining textbooks for answers other people already know, taking multiple choice tests and reading dusty books, all because they have to. In short, we think of the system designed to make industrial workers for a world that doesn’t want industrial workers any more. In this episode, we discuss the alternative: how to love problem solving, how to fail, and how to love of the unknown. If you grew up (like we did) in a public education system that, however well-intentioned, remains rife with problems, it’s not too late to start learning.

When it comes to our daily rhythms, we tend to drift into paths with less resistance and difficulty than others. Life is hard enough as it is, so why wouldn't we choose to ease off where we can? The problem is that that posture can bleed into every aspect of our lives, until we avoid anything that seems too difficult or like too much work. Sam and Blaine share about places they are choosing difficult things for the sake of life, their families, and God.

Strategy is an abused word for a vital concept. In this episode, we sat down with our friend and longtime pro-strategist Anthony Ashley to get to the root of the discipline: what is strategy, what’s it made of, and how do we use strategy as a paradigm to structure our world. Listen for tools to assess immediate strengths and weaknesses, build good goals, and refine the unique approach the corresponds to the personality of any person or team. From the history of warfare to the formation of a dream, building companies to developing character, strategy’s the proven toolkit for it all.

We've got a few books stacked around the office that we like to flip through for inspiration, and Hank Shaw's "Buck, Buck, Moose" has had a spot on our desk for a while now. Shaw is a forager, angler, hunter, and chef, who combines all of his experience to pretty staggering effect. His journey out of political writing and into the ethics and better use of wild food would be worth an episode on its own, but throw in his knowledge of the culinary world and you've got something even more enticing. To read more by Shaw check out his blog: https://honest-food.net

Dr James practices medicine out of his clinic in Colorado, True Life Medicine, after leaving behind the "traditional Western model" of healthcare. By addressing symptoms alone, Dr James claims that we are giving people bigger and bigger band-aids that never solve the root of the issue. It's time to throw most of our assumptions and ideas of normal out the window, and start being active in our own lives when it comes to our bodies.

Know what Familiarity breeds? Perceived Familiarity. Perceived Familiarity breeds Unfamiliarity. Which breeds Disinterest, Apathy, and, yup, Contempt. This is one of the most important facts about a life with God—we must fight Perceived Familiarity. Today we’ll do that. We’ll blank the slate and tell the story, highlighting it’s many strange facets (Abraham’s fighting company of 318 men, the throw-down, single-elimination tournament with the gods of Egypt, the apocalypse after Malachi, etc), to refresh our worldview and remember just how strange this story is. Fair warning - gospel talk ensues, but hang in there: this is war for the destiny of the universe.

This is a friendly PSA that the And Sons Podcast will return next Tuesday, September 11th. Normally, we'd publish an episode to keep pace with our weekly rhythm, but this week several unexpected events have kept that from happening. We thank you for understanding.

Laurie Thornton is one part of a husband/wife pastoral team (guess which) with a decade of experience in music ministry, discipleship, missions, retreat-leading, all that. She has a dynamite relationship with God, is what we’re saying, and a proven handle on what it means to live as a disciple in his Kingdom. We asked her to come talk about leadership, starting with a little paradigm work and moving on to kingdom households, finding mentors, and developing a life with God that’s actually worth emulating.

The summer issue of And Sons is out, and yes, it technically is still summer even though most schools are back in session. In this episode Blaine and Sam flesh out some of the articles on super reading, fathering, and the creative life.

When Justin Lukasavige began running he didn't imagine going for 100 kilometers let alone down the block. But then Dave Eitemiller came along and offered his guidance, and an ultrarunning partnership was born. It's not just about handling the miles, or learning how to pace, or how to deal with suffering. Sometimes what we need is a mentor who we can learn from and be invited by into new and previously impossible adventures.

Why do we keep going back to the same places? What is the value of knowing a land, a rock face, a town, when everything is about "what's next"? John (Padre) writes, "Each year we return lays down a new layer of story, and adventure, beauty and encounter. Layer upon layer, like a rich patina on a piece of heirloom furniture, or better, like the technique Rembrandt and the Old Masters used in their painting, carefully laying down dozens of layers of paint to achieve that extraordinary effect of depth and gravitas."

Sean Buckles is a coffee shop maven with a long career in the US Army, both as a member of a Special Ops team and as an instructor. He’s one of those people you like more every new thing you learn, though it isn’t easy to get him to talk about himself. We like Sean for a lot of reasons, but principally because he’s a dad with a life with God. And not just to his own family, though that’s true, but to his staff and to his community and a to a wider circle than we probably know. In this conversation, we try to get more of the story, from teaching folks to jump out of airplanes to leaving the military just shy of retirement to building an outstanding business, this is a story about risk and a life with God.

The pernicious and crippling feeling of "it's too late" can infiltrate almost every part of our lives, so it should be no surprise that we are already feeling it in regards to our summer and all the daydreamed adventures we had for it back in the colder months. Sometimes setting small goals, finding loopholes in our own routines, or using a hack to break through a wall of impossibility is just what we need. Not all of these will apply to everyone, maybe none of them will, but at the end of the day we don't want "it's too late" to stop us from experiencing life and joy and the rest of summer.

We'll be honest and say that this episode made a least 1/2 of the And Sons team a little queasy, insofar as it looked like we'd have to buy typewriters and write outside in Oxfords, no socks. This episode is about wonder, and beauty. The case study is poetry. How do you deepen you capacity for beauty? What regular practices increase a person's sensitivity? How long should it take. We've brought Luke back on to talk about all of it. Only we asked him to leave his black beret at home.

You remember Jesse Barkalow - the longtime painter, line cook, and world's most prolific reader. Well, he's been at seminary. Usually, that makes us concerned for a person's well being. But Jesse has a rare disposition, and the opportunity seems to be improving his life with God. We wanted to know why. So in this episode, we're asking a key question: what's the basic question of theology/the human heart? As a matter of course, we also dive into the method that promotes union with God, as well as the paradoxes of seeing/blindness reconciled in the person of Jesus.