Confronting Ourselves, The Importance of Self-Awareness
Confronting Normal
Self-awareness takes brutal honesty. We all have parts of ourselves that we like, parts that we don’t, parts that we showcase, and parts that we try to hide away. It’s really difficult to be honest about all sides of who we are—the good, the bad, the messy and the downright ugly. But recognizing and confronting all of our parts is really important if ever we are to move through this world with a healthy sense of clarity and intentionality. Today’s episode is about all kinds of bad words our society likes for us to keep on the DL—words like limitations, weaknesses, submission,...
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Confronting Intentionality, Recalibrate
Confronting Normal
Sometimes in life we veer off course without notice. When we choose to live intentionally and to pursue a specified life destination, we also have to continually correct our path to ensure we end up where we intended to. This process can lead to some pretty interesting questions and ponderings, but also, it can lead us to step into some pretty intense self-reflection. In this first episode of 2020, Cindy and Renae discuss the beautiful gift of reflection and recalibration with questions such as the following: What would you do this year if you were not afraid? What would you do with your life...
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Confronting Christmas, Be Kind. Be Compassionate. Be Gracious.
Confronting Normal
It’s the most wonderful time of the year … or so we sing — ‘tis the season for full bellies, family festivities, delicious baking, gift-giving/receiving, carols and more. But ‘tis also the most difficult time of the year for many — a season that isn’t particularly cheerful, jolly, merry and bright. Today’s episode is a gentle reminder to remember that not everyone around you is experiencing the Christmas season the same way you are. Be kind. Be compassionate. Be gracious. Create space whenever and wherever space might be needed, because you just never know how meaningful and...
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Confronting Culture, What Did You Just Say
Confronting Normal
You are going to need a flow chart to follow this conversation all the way through friends! Today we are sitting down with friends of the podcast, Matt Rigby and Alex Marriott, to discuss, well, Kayne West – Bono – Billy Graham – Relevant Magazine – Rob Bell – Mars Hill, and seemingly everything in between. HA! You really don’t want to miss this gem of an episode. In classic Confronting Normal style, there is little in the way of answers in this conversation but we all did leave challenged by the idea that the way of Jesus is indeed a lot more than a set of beliefs, and that as...
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Confronting Faith, People NOT Projects
Confronting Normal
Have you ever found yourself in a conversation with someone outside your religious context, stumbling upon your words as you realize that although your beliefs and vocabulary have changed the old scripts of your faith upbringing are still there in your mind fighting to come out? In this episode Cindy and Renae have a candid conversation about their upbringing in church, their shifting beliefs, and how living out this faith intentionally requires some serious reprogramming. People, not projects. Relationships, not agendas. Love, not fear. Trust, not control. These are all easy to say, easy to...
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Confronting Life, Do We Sanitize The Dark Side A Little Too Much?
Confronting Normal
Light and dark coexist at every given moment of every given day. Holidays like Halloween and places like Vegas become easy targets of definable darkness because they’re overt in expression. But darkness is part of life always; it's present in the form of heartache, grief, sadness, discouragement, sickness, failure and everything else that weighs us down. Turning a blind eye is not as simple as turning off our lights and choosing to not participate. Today’s episode is a conversation about what it means to think critically about how we’re going to engage these tensions and how we’re...
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Confronting Culture, Then There’s Halloween
Confronting Normal
We talk about the Confronting Normal community being an invitation to a number of things including wrestling through the tensions we feel about faith, life and culture – and that is exactly what this episode it all about. You see, you can go about pursuing a life and faith that is filled with intentionality and purpose but then, you’re a parent, in North America, and there is Halloween. Halloween is one of our cultures largest retail holidays and it is rooted in all kinds of things that don’t resonate with a life of faith. What are we supposed to do when we can no...
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Confronting Church, The Sunday Morning Gathering
Confronting Normal
Today’s church/faith/Christian structure takes the shape of—and places high importance on—the Sunday morning gathering. It’s just how it is. We all know it and we all get it. But here are a few questions that Cindy and Renae can’t help but openly and honestly discuss in today’s episode: Why does the Christian faith have to come packaged as one standard structure? What if the structure we’re placing a lot of weight in is flawed? What if the Sunday morning gathering isn’t enough? What if there are so many more ways to experience and enjoy God than simply sitting in a pew? And...
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Confronting Life - Understanding The Season You're In
Confronting Normal
Welcome to Season 3—another season for conversation, curiosity, learning and growing. In today’s episode, Cindy and Renae discuss their summers, the journeys they’ve been on and the lessons they’ve learned that have brought surprising new insights about God, themselves and their lives. As Season 3 gets under way, Cindy and Renae hope it does exactly what Seasons 1 & 2 have done, which is, to inspire, encourage, challenge and empower listeners to explore new depths of themselves, God, church, faith, the world around them, and the communities they live in.
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Confronting Life, Examining Our Lives
Confronting Normal
We are creatures of habit; it’s true. We don’t naturally go to places of self-reflection and self-discovery for the simple fact of self-preservation. We keep change at a distance for fear of what might surface. But practices such as self-examination and Sabbath are great reflective exercises that draw us into greater places of awareness if we’re willing to go there. It’s in these reflective places and spaces where we can ask ourselves and God some very honest questions: Does the way I’m living actually line up with the things I say I believe? Do the systems in my life align with my...
info_outlineToday’s church/faith/Christian structure takes the shape of—and places high importance on—the Sunday morning gathering. It’s just how it is. We all know it and we all get it.
But here are a few questions that Cindy and Renae can’t help but openly and honestly discuss in today’s episode:
- Why does the Christian faith have to come packaged as one standard structure?
- What if the structure we’re placing a lot of weight in is flawed?
- What if the Sunday morning gathering isn’t enough?
- What if there are so many more ways to experience and enjoy God than simply sitting in a pew?
And more importantly, what if you attend this structure Sunday after Sunday and struggle with this structure Sunday after Sunday?
In today’s conversation, Cindy and Renae discuss their tensions with the Sunday morning gathering, while vulnerably encouraging others who (maybe) feel the same way, to talk about how they’re feeling, too.