My Go-To British Dinner, A Patriarch Chasing Love, and 2 Tiny Playlists
Here's what I'm digging right now
Hello and welcome!
(Due to technical difficulties, my email client didn’t deliver this email to most of you yesterday as scheduled, so I’m sending it again. If you got it yesterday, disregard!)
Hope you’re well. Here’s the latest:
Episode 5: The Father and the Second-Born
Good news! The newest episode of Holy Ghost Stories is hot and delicious and waiting for you right now, like a freshly fried apple fritter. (Man I miss donuts. Wait…nope. I just miss apple fritters.)
This episode is a special one. (Do you know who it’s about from the title? If so, well done! If not, here you go: it’s about Israel, the namesake of the entire Hebrew nation—better known to us as Jacob, the twin whose birth order defined his life.)
I love this story.
Why’s that? Thanks for asking. I love this story for two reasons:
1. An unlikely protagonist
Jacob is not a someone who makes it onto anyone’s Most Liked People In The Bible list. Instead, he’s often regarded as a somewhat embarrasing part of the clan. (“You know Uncle Carl—he’s just like that. But he’s family.”) I understand why—he makes some bad choices that hurt the people around him, ambition (like the negative, Shakespearean version of it) is a driving force inside of him, and he struggles with integrity.
You love him already, right?
Maybe not.
But Yahweh loves Jacob. And He wants Jacob to learn that Isaac (who seems to really struggle in the parenting department) isn’t his only father.
And so the Lord leads Jacob on a journey of discovery—a journey that lasts years and years. Along the way it becomes apparent that Jacob, bless him, is a slow learner. But Yahweh doesn’t give up.
The more time I spent with this story, the more I found myself rooting for Jacob, relating to him even.
And this episode of Holy Ghost Stories finds its climax in what seems to have been a huge before-and-after moment in our ancient friend’s emotional and spiritual journey. It’s a moment full of mystery and fear, full of sweat and dirt, full of darkness and light. (From all I can tell in the Old Testament, this is the kind of moment Yahweh really seems to love.)
2. It’s personal
Jacob’s struggle is, quite possibly, yours as well.
He’s a person who felt like he was always chasing God’s love and affection. He decided early on that he didn’t deserve it and learned to play a part in order to survive.
Have you ever felt like you have to pretend in order to be someone worth loving?
If so, I’m praying that as you listen to this story you’ll hear your Father’s heart.
The Father and the Second-Born is ready for you right here:
Jennifer and Me on Avenue For Faith
If you lead a team of any size, maybe this will be helpful to you. When Nathan Guy intereviewed my wife Jennifer and me for his podcast, he asked so many great questions the content had to be divided across two episodes. This second one is focused more on how to align things around your organization’s/team’s mission and how to effectively craft and cast vision—this is stuff that’s very near and dear to my heart. You can read some excerpts here or listen to the interview here.
When To Enable ‘Do Not Disturb’ Mode on Your Phone
Super fun to have Holy Ghost Stories featured on a listener’s blog recently—I loved hearing about how she peed her pants during an episode. 😬 Gwen interviewed me about what I’m up to with this podcast and why—here’s the feature.
5 Cool Things
Escape to the Chateau- If you’re in the mood for a family-friendly show, gorgeous shots of the French countryside, and vicarious move-to-Europe-and-fix-up-a-chateau thrills, look no further. The husband and wife in this show are just plain delightful, and what they’re doing is just plain bananas. But they’re doing it so well! (H/T to the inimitable Ken Kohl for this recommendation. Oh—and this requires a Peacock TV account, but no subscription.)
Song Couplets - Thought I’d pair some songs I’m digging lately. You know how you sometimes want to set songs up on a date because you think they’d get along so well? Yes? No? Well this is me doing that.
The Covers: Cotton Eye Joe, by the Sweeplings & You Are My Sunshine, by Morgane & Chris Stapleton and Southern Family
The Jams: Wolfpack, by Sly and the Family Stallone & Better Than Ever, by Flight Facilities
Dancing Robots - You’ve seen the Boston Dynamics robots before, right? Unbelievable. Well here they are, trying to make you less afraid that they’ll take over the world. (Or maybe making it clear that when they do take over, there will at least be dance parties.) This, to be clear, is not CGI—these are actual machines actually doing this actually.
1917 & The Illusion of One Shot- I’m a sucker for filmmaking and film criticism videos, and YouTube knows it. Here’s a suggestion I got served up recently that was a fascinating look behind the scenes of a movie I really enjoyed: 1917.
Chicken Pot Pie - Got a request last issue for info about some of the British food we’ve been eating over here. While our eating out has been extreeeeemly limited and I don’t have a lot to share on that front, I am happy to report that I’ve been leaning into British foods when cooking dinner. Specifically, savory pies (man, British people seem to love these things), and even more speciifically, chicken pot pie. I’ve footnoted my super rustic “recipe” at the end of this sentence if you’re interested.1 Here’s a pic—see? Super rustic, but delicious I promise.
QUESTION: Where Are You Listening to HGS?
I heard last week from someone who was gathering his youth group to take in the first episode of Holy Ghost Stories around an actual campfire. I love that! But because of frigid temps and rain, they ended up gathering inside around a candle. Ha! I love that even more.
Made me wonder about where you’re listening—is it super intentional and moody? Is it comically pedestrian? Same every time? Different every time? Alone? Together? I’d love for you to reply real quick and tell me—it’s so fun to be able to picture you interacting with Holy Ghost Stories.
That’s it! Hope you have a great week. Enjoy The Father and the Second-Born!
Gratefully,
Justin
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Prepare to be unimpressed by my recipe writing skills, but I promise you: this is delicious. Throw a ton of cut up veg (whatever you want) into a pan, then season (salt, pepper, lots of thyme) and sautee it and dump it into a casserole dish. In the meantime, whip up a quick bechamel sauce (I add thyme and parsley and lemon juice to it). Pour it over the vegetables when it’s done and top the whole thing with store bought puff pastry. Poke a couple of holes in it, give it a quick egg wash and top with flaked salt, and put it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes or until it’s golden brown. Oozy. Comforty. So British.