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11/07/2025

When Faith Feels Divided: Finding Hope Between Generations

Episode 31 — OnePastor Podcast

Being a parent isn’t for sissies.
Not in this world. Not in this generation.

We’re watching families come apart — not always in shouting matches, but in silence. Parents and kids are quietly excommunicating each other:
• A son blocks his dad because he’s “too religious.”
• A daughter ghosts her mom because she “won’t understand.”
• Grown kids won’t come home for the holidays.
• Parents stop calling because every conversation turns into a debate.

It’s heartbreak in slow motion.
And it’s happening everywhere — even in the Church.

We used to gather around dinner tables and talk. Now we gather around phones and avoid. Faith that once felt shared now feels divided.

But God hasn’t given up on our families.
He still moves stones.
He still restores hearts.
And He still knows how to reach your son, your daughter, your parents — even when you can’t.

In this episode, we’ll talk about:
• Why faith often fractures between generations.
• How parents can love adult children who’ve walked away from God.
• How to stay hopeful without trying to control outcomes.
• What Scripture teaches us about grace, endurance, and prayer when the silence hurts.

If your heart aches for connection… if your faith feels divided inside your own home… this episode is for you.

🎧 Listen now — Episode 31: “When Faith Feels Divided: Finding Hope Between Generations.”
Because God still writes redemption stories in broken families.

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11/01/2025

You Can Face It: Because He Lives

What difference does it really make that Jesus is alive?

This isn’t just a line from a hymn—it’s the heartbeat of hope itself. In this episode, Donnie opens up about what it means to live with victory, not defeat… joy, not fear… purpose, not confusion.

💭 You’ll hear real stories, honest reflections, and reminders that no matter what life throws at you—you can still rise again because He lives.

🔥 In this episode, you’ll discover:
• How to see your pain through the lens of resurrection power
• Why hope isn’t fragile—it’s alive
• What changes in your daily battles when you remember the tomb is empty
• How to live with quiet confidence even when life feels loud and uncertain

Come laugh, breathe, and remember the victory that’s already yours. This is the bright side of faith—the reason we smile through storms.

🎧 Listen now wherever you stream podcasts and share it with someone who needs to remember: Because He Lives, you can face tomorrow.

⸻

10/31/2025

Today I visited Daybright — the very first location in Hiram, Georgia — and it was amazing. From the moment I walked in I knew something new and special had arrived. The food was excellent and the latte I ordered was superb: expertly made, well-balanced, and a perfect pick-me-up.

What makes Daybright so interesting is that it’s not just another coffee spot. It’s a fresh concept from Chick‑fil‑A’s innovation arm Red Wagon Ventures, opened in Hiram at 4326 Jimmy Lee Smith Pkwy.  But where Chick-fil-A is known for chicken sandwiches and waffle fries, Daybright carves out its own path: it offers specialty coffees, smoothies, cold-pressed juices, and on the food side, portable breakfast items like baked donuts, breakfast sandwiches and burritos. 

The atmosphere was bright and inviting — clean, modern yet comfortable. The service was friendly and efficient, reflective of the kind of warmth you typically associate with Chick-fil-A, but this feels more like a café and refreshment lounge. The dual drive-thru and dining room setup in Hiram gives you options for quick grab-and-go or a sit-down experience. 

If you’re looking for a new go-to in Hiram for a quality latte, a smoothie, or a fun breakfast snack, Daybright is absolutely worth checking out. I’m looking forward to coming back and trying more of their menu. Go with the burrito and sunrise sandwich. Donuts are great. Chocolate tear away is insane. Iced Pistacio Latte is wonderful.

10/22/2025

Feeling and Dealing. FEEL THE PAIN.

Yeah, I know.
Some of you probably think I sound down a lot on the podcast.
I talk about loss, struggle, grief, doubt.
But here’s the truth—
I do it because it’s real.

Life’s not all sunshine.
Not for me. Not for you. Not for anybody.

When my wife died by suicide, I learned something in GriefShare that I’ll never forget:
👉 You don’t go over pain.
👉 You don’t go under it.
👉 You go through it.

That’s where healing happens.
That’s where peace is found.

We can’t numb our way to joy.
We can’t hide and expect to heal.
God meets us in the honest places—
Not the pretend ones.

So yeah, I talk about pain.
Because pretending is poison.
Because facing it is freedom.
Because Jesus can handle your real, not your mask.

If you’re tired of faking fine…
Feel the pain.
Talk it out.
Let God in.

The other side of through
is peace. 💙

⸻

10/22/2025

You love Jesus… but lately you don’t feel like a Christian.
You read your Bible, but it’s like fog.
You pray, but silence answers back.
And somewhere inside you wonder, “If I really believed, wouldn’t it feel different?”

This episode is for the weary believer who’s still showing up.
The one who’s hanging on by a thread — and that thread is grace.

Romans 11:36 says,

“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.”

Everything begins with Him, flows through Him, and ends in Him — even your faith.
You don’t hold your salvation together; He does.

In this episode we talk about:
1️⃣ Why faith can feel faint but still be real.
2️⃣ How God’s Word keeps us when feelings fade.
3️⃣ What it means to trust Jesus as the Way when you can’t see the way.

You’ll hear a letter from God’s heart to the struggling believer, reminders from Romans 8, and truth that anchors us:
Your faith is not failing — it’s being refined.

⸻

Questions to take with you:
💭 What would it look like to keep showing up in faith even when you don’t feel it?
💭 How is God using this quiet season to deepen—not destroy—your trust?
💭 Where do you need to let His Word steady you today?

⸻

🎧 Listen now: Episode 29 — “How Do I Know I Believe?”
A refuge for the weary.
A reminder for the doubting.
A safe space for those still holding on.

10/22/2025

I Don't Always Fit In. Keep me different, God.
I don’t mind being left out.

Left out when friends stop calling because you don’t laugh at what used to entertain you.
Left out when you won’t flirt back, cut corners, or fake who you are just to fit in.
Left out when you choose church over comfort, prayer over scrolling, purity over pressure.
Left out when your convictions make others uncomfortable, and your peace makes them question their chaos.

That’s okay.

I don’t need the crowd’s approval when I already have the Father’s acceptance.
I’d rather be faithful than trendy, honest than admired, different than drifting.

So if being “left out” means I’m walking the narrow road with Jesus—
Then keep me different, God.

10/18/2025

Episode 28 — The OnePastor Podcast

Some of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met are the ones who’ve been shattered… and still show up.
They don’t hide their scars — they let God use them.

If you’ve ever wondered why you had to walk through what you did, this episode is for you.

Because maybe your pain wasn’t punishment.
Maybe it’s preparation.
Maybe the very thing that almost broke you is the thing God will use to heal someone else.

🎧 In this episode:
• Why scars don’t mean shame — they mean survival.
• How God redeems what’s real, not what we pretend.
• What to do when healing feels too slow or too messy.
• 5 actions that help you live out your pain and press on.

This one is raw. It’s hope for the heart that’s still mending.
You’ll see that broken doesn’t mean done — it means being remade.

✨ Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
Let God show you the beauty in what you thought was beyond repair.

10/16/2025

This helped me today. Thanks Chad Bird!

Samuel stood before Israel and delivered this charge: “If you will fear the LORD and serve him and obey his voice… it will be well. But if you will not obey… the hand of the LORD will be against you and your king” (1 Samuel 12:14–15).

Sounds simple enough, right? Fear, serve, obey. If you do that, everything will be fine as wine.

Yet Israel’s history, and our own lives, prove how impossible commands like these are for hearts like ours. As Paul writes in Romans 7:, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (vv. 15, 19).

The laws of Scripture—the imperatives—reveal our weakness. They shine a bright light on the dark places within us. Being told what to do does not empower us to do it; it only stirs up rebellion within. As Paul writes, “Now the law came in to increase [!] the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (Rom. 5:20), and “When the commandment came, sin came alive and I died” (Romans 7:9).

The law serves as a mirror, exposing not our potential for obedience but our inability and unwillingness to obey.

This is bad news, but there is good news. The gospel of Christ is that good news, the best of news. Christ has accomplished for us what we could never accomplish for ourselves. He kept the laws we break in thought, word, and deed. The law reveals our failure; the Gospel reveals God’s faithfulness.

That faithfulness in Christ is our confidence, our hope, our joy.
_____
Some may wonder how Deut. 30:11 fits with this, since that verse is sometimes quoted to argue that keeping the law is "not too hard" for people. See my answer here: https://help.1517.org/knowledge/is-keeping-the-law-not-too-hard-explaining-deuteronomy-3011

10/15/2025

The Hard Way...
Sometimes we think faith should make life easier — calmer seas, clearer skies, fewer questions. But real faith doesn’t silence the thunder; it steadies your heart in it.

You’ll still feel the waves.
You’ll still get hit by wind and doubt.
You’ll still have nights that make you wonder if God even hears you.

But faith… faith is that quiet, gritty decision that you’re not letting go of Jesus, even when your hands are trembling.

Remember Peter? He started sinking the moment he looked at the waves instead of the One who called him. (Matthew 14:30) That’s not failure — that’s human. But what happened next is everything: Jesus reached out, immediately.

So don’t beat yourself up for feeling the storm. Feel it — but hold on. Grip the hand that doesn’t let go.

Because the same Jesus who calms storms still walks with you through them.
And when the waves finally settle, you’ll realize… it wasn’t the storm that defined you — it was Who you held onto in it.