What if faith and humor aren’t opposites, but companions on the road toward hope? In this episode, we sit down with Sy Hoekstra—a writer, editor, and podcaster whose story weaves together deep honesty and joyful perspective. Blind since birth, Sy brings firsthand insight into the realities of living with disability, but refuses to let hardship define the story. Instead, his writing explores faith in the language of humility, hospitality, and generous self-awareness, often delivered with a contagious sense of humor.Sy speaks candidly about choosing humor not as a coping mechanism for pain, but as a sign of spiritual and emotional health. Drawing from the words and actions of Jesus—especially those challenging self-importance and pride—Sy shares how laughter becomes an act of hope, inviting others into dialogue about awkward or misunderstood topics. Far from avoiding difficulty, his approach opens the door to real connection, helping friends and readers find clarity, grace, and even joy in unlikely places.Whether you’re navigating your own challenges, seeking a fresh take on faith in a broken world, or simply curious about humor as a tool for hospitality, you’ll find Sy’s approach both inviting and thought-provoking. This conversation is an honest exploration of humility, belonging, and how we care for each other by meeting awkwardness with kindness and wit.

Mark Vernon steps into the studio for an episode that faces our collective anxieties with honesty and depth. The conversation opens with the sense of collapse many feel today—a sense that familiar certainties are fading. Instead of offering quick fixes or retreating into platitudes, Mark explores what happens when we approach uncertainty as a call to discover deeper forms of truth and beauty.Drawing on his background as a psychotherapist, educator, and former vicar, Mark unpacks lessons from the Platonic and Christian traditions. He reflects on thinkers like Dante and William Blake, but also connects these traditions to the symbols and stories of modern culture—even Frankenstein and zombies become part of the journey.This episode asks: Can meaning and hope break through, even when everything feels unsettled? Mark suggests that wisdom is less about escaping difficulty and more about cultivating a way of seeing—a spiritual intelligence—that reveals goodness precisely in the moment of greatest uncertainty. Whether you’re drawn to philosophy, psychology, faith, or simply the yearning for deeper answers, this conversation offers a space to wrestle honestly with the questions of our age.

Shane Claiborne is neither content with ideas nor preoccupied with abstractions. His vision of peacemaking is urgent, tangible—and sometimes quite literally, forged in fire. In this episode, Shane shares the journey behind Raw Tools, where surrendered guns are melted and re-formed into gardening instruments, echoing the prophetic call to “beat swords into plowshares.” The work is as symbolic as it is practical, challenging both the weaponization of society and the ways Christians can drift from the teachings of Jesus.We go deeper than headlines or slogans. Shane speaks with candor and humility about learning from figures like Mother Teresa, collaborating with grassroots communities, and the struggles of being a “Red Letter Christian” when compassion means confronting systems—and ourselves. There is room here for laughter (yes, Dolly Parton makes an appearance), but also for reflective questions about what it means to love authentically, seek justice, and cultivate hope in broken places.This conversation will speak to anyone asking how faith can be lived in the real world—where change is hard, but redemption is always possible. Whether you’re passionate about justice, curious about social action, or simply searching for honest spiritual dialogue, you’ll find both challenge and inspiration in Shane’s story.

Michael Stone joins us again for a focused conversation on fear, trauma, and the quiet work of becoming whole. He explains how trauma forms early, how it influences our choices and relationships, and why fear often becomes the lens through which we interpret everything. His approach is steady, practical, and rooted in decades of lived experience.Building on his previous appearance, Michael reflects on the difference between coping mechanisms and true integration. For him, oneness isn’t an idea to believe in but a state that emerges when the body, mind, and heart are finally aligned. The conversation invites listeners to understand their fear with more compassion and to recognize the possibility of healing within their own story.This episode offers a calm, grounded perspective for anyone navigating unresolved pain or searching for a sense of inner steadiness.

Humanity is standing on the edge of a profound transition. In this episode, award-winning author and educator Dr. Scott Guerin joins us to unpack the central themes of his book Awkward Awakening—a call to recognize our divine nature, our expanding awareness, and the subtle shifts reshaping how we understand mind, body, and spirit. He outlines why the old boundaries between the physical and nonphysical are no longer holding, and how this realization is opening an entirely new landscape of experience.Dr. Guerin brings decades of work in human development and spiritual psychology to a conversation that bridges science, spirituality, and the unexplored dimensions of consciousness. From our “galactic heritage” to the rise of experiential spirituality, he explains how these emerging patterns are not fringe ideas but signals of a larger evolutionary moment. His perspective offers clarity without sensationalism—a grounded understanding of what many people are already feeling but haven’t been able to name.Together, we explore how to navigate this awakening with discernment and purpose. Dr. Guerin shares practical approaches, reflective tools, and the inner posture needed to engage this shift with integrity. Whether you approach this as a believer, a seeker, or simply someone sensing change on the horizon, this conversation offers a meaningful map for finding your way home.

Reynaldo Pareja joins the conversation to explore two questions that have defined much of his work: How does God communicate with humanity, and is there a single principle that holds the universe together? His perspective moves between the sweep of cosmic reality and the interior landscape of human consciousness, treating both as essential parts of the same search.He reflects on revelation as an ongoing, intentional process—one that invites humanity to understand the divine not as a distant abstraction but as a presence that unfolds across history. At the same time, he examines the astonishing coherence of creation, from the behavior of galaxies to the complexity of cells, suggesting that unity is not an ideal but a structural truth woven into existence itself.The result is an episode that brings science, spirituality, and human experience into the same frame, offering a grounded and expansive look at how we make sense of our place in a universe that is both immeasurable and intimately connected.

Facing nine federal indictments and a possible thirty-seven-year sentence, Daniel Gray did something few people in today’s outrage-driven culture ever do: he took responsibility for everything. Not only for January 6, but for the digital spiral that pulled him in — the doomscrolling, the toxic influencers, and the online ecosystem that blurred judgment and distorted truth. When he pleaded guilty, he wasn’t seeking leniency; he was seeking honesty. Judge Amy Berman Jackson ultimately sentenced him to thirty months. And as Daniel reflects, you cannot receive grace without accountability — and grace without repentance is a mockery of grace.In this rare, unfiltered conversation, Daniel opens a window into the psychology of radicalization and the cost of stepping back into the light. He examines the pressures of the algorithm, the moral vacuum of influencer culture, and the growing dissonance between truth and the digital personas we choose to believe. This episode is not about politics — it’s about the spiritual, moral, and human journey of a man who confronted his own failures and discovered that redemption begins where self-deception ends.

Mary DeMuth joins Wade Fransson for a direct and honest conversation about what it takes to heal from harm. Rather than circling the idea of trauma, she names the internal patterns that linger long after the moment has passed—shame, silence, and the false belief that suffering is the end of the story.She speaks openly about the discipline of rebuilding a self: how truth-telling restores agency, how faith steadies the inner life, and why freedom begins with refusing to inherit the limits others place on us. Her perspective is not theoretical; it’s lived, tested, and carried forward through her work as an author, advocate, and voice for those still finding their own.Mary is a literary agent, artist, speaker, podcaster at PrayEveryDay.show, and author of 50+ books, including The Most Overwhelmed Women of the Bible (Skyhorse, 2025). She lives in Texas with her husband and is the mom to three adult children. Find out more at https://www.marydemuth.com