Podcast

059: The Last Place You Would Ever Think to Find Joy

By John Certalic on April 8, 2020 8

Hello everyone and welcome to today’s episode where today, as always, we're here together to consider how we can experience more joy in our relationships.

I had another episode all ready to go for today, but I’ll save it for next week because something came up the other night that I want to share with you because of it’s timeliness, and because it illustrates an important relationship principle. It’s about finding joy in a relationship in the most unlikely of places.

So stick around and listen, especially near the end where I describe a connection between 4 different relationships, 98 years apart, a connection that is bringing me joy during a difficult time I’m in right now. I share it because this same joy is available to you during the difficult times you are going through, or will go through. [Read more…] about 059: The Last Place You Would Ever Think to Find Joy

058: How a Crisis Can Bring Out the Best in Us

By John Certalic on April 1, 2020 0

Welcome to today’s episode where today we look at several examples of how people are reaching out and caring for each other during our present day global health crisis. Hopefully these stories will inspire you to do the same.

I mentioned in last week’s episode, no.57, that a crisis like we are experiencing now in the spring of 2020 creates opportunities for us to find goodness in our relationships with people.

I have also found some relational goodness in humor in these difficult times.

Here are several examples:

Facebook post 1:

Until further notice: No one can stop by unannounced. We ain’t sick, we just don’t trust you around our toilet paper.

Facebook post 2: [Read more…] about 058: How a Crisis Can Bring Out the Best in Us

057: Relational Goodness in Times of Crisis

By John Certalic on March 25, 2020 2

Hello everyone and welcome to today’s episode where today we reflect on the impact the coronavirus is having on our relationships. There’s no shortage of information about the virus itself. How it’s affecting our physical health, advice how to take care of our self, the impact on the economy, and the disruption in our normal daily life.

I don’t want to talk about any of that. Instead, I want to talk about what I mentioned in my Every Wednesday email from last week where I asked listeners to share with me examples of anything positive they have seen coming out of the coronavirus health crisis we are in. I asked for specific, concrete stories , anything that someone saw, heard, or experienced that would encourage people.

So today’s episode is all about the positive, all about the goodness found in the challenging times we are in. [Read more…] about 057: Relational Goodness in Times of Crisis

056: Changing How We Think

By John Certalic on March 18, 2020 0

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 56, where today we consider one relationship that affects all others. Our relationship with our self, and how we think.

In the last few episodes, 54, The Greatest Obstacle to Relationships and 55, How to Overcome our Greatest Relationship Obstacle, we talked about the relational disease of self-centeredness, and how we can be cured of it by letting God transform us into a new person by changing the way we think.

The cure comes from the apostle Paul who wrote in Romans 12: 2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”

How we think affects our behavior. It affects our emotions. It affects how we relate to other people. How we think affects EVERYTHING.

In this episode I’ll be sharing several examples of how this works, so you can get an idea of how changing your thinking could transform you into a new person. The person God wants you to be. Listen in. [Read more…] about 056: Changing How We Think

055: How to Overcome our Greatest Relationship Obstacle

By John Certalic on March 11, 2020 0

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 55 where today we talk about the solution to the most dreaded relational virus that has plagued human beings since we first walked this earth.

Self-centeredness.

Listen in.

054: The Greatest Obstacle to Relationships

By John Certalic on March 4, 2020 0

Hello and happy March 4th to everyone who is listening in real-time today, March 4th, 2020. If you haven’t yet decided where you want to march forth today on March 4th, I have a suggestion for you at the end of the show.

But before we get into today’s topic, the greatest obstacle to our relationships, a listener from South Carolina asked if I would explain what he called “my strong reaction to the relationship quote” from last week’s show, episode 53. You may recall the quote came from Princess Diana, who said, “I don’t go by a rule book, because I lead from the heart, not the head.” [Read more…] about 054: The Greatest Obstacle to Relationships

053: An Inconvenient Relationship Reality

By John Certalic on February 26, 2020 4

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 53 where today I talk about an “inconvenient truth” concerning relationships. I like this term first coined by Al Gore about his view of climate change. Regardless of your view of Al Gore’s comments, there are also inconvenient truths about relationships. Today’s episode is about one of them.

If you have ever spent any significant time around children, do you remember the times your heart ached for them when they discovered that life can be harsh? Where they experienced the sadness of relational pain?

When your child’s network of friends all get invited to a birthday party, except your kid? When a child’s favorite pet dies? When all you teenager’s friends have been asked to homecoming, but not yours?

These examples raise the question of “Who’s going to be there for me when I need them?” [Read more…] about 053: An Inconvenient Relationship Reality

052: Six Examples of Listeners Using this Podcast Content

By John Certalic on February 19, 2020 0

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 52 where today we hear how listeners are applying the content from this podcast in their daily lives.

At the end of most podcast episodes I often mention that it would be helpful to hear reactions from listeners to the content of that day’s episode. I am especially interested in how listeners are using what we talk about to transform their relationships into the best they can be.

Because when we hear how someone else is putting into practice the ideas and principles we discuss on the show, it can stimulate the rest of us to apply those same ideas and principles – so we can find more joy in our relationships.

Today I have 6 brief stories from listeners that will hopefully do just that for you. Help you to find more joy in your relationships.

So listen in. [Read more…] about 052: Six Examples of Listeners Using this Podcast Content

051: More Than the Music

By John Certalic on February 12, 2020 0

Welcome to episode 51 where today we consider a hidden benefit of good relationships. A benefit I bet few of us have ever considered.

Not too long ago I was on the search team for our church looking for a new worship director. Part of the process, as you can imagine, is interviewing candidates, and the way we did it was to schedule initial interviews over Skype with them.

One night our team was in the middle of interviewing a candidate when our pastor, as a member of the search team, asked what I thought was a most unusual question. He asked the candidate, [Read more…] about 051: More Than the Music

050: Three Reasons Why Relationships Are Worth It

By John Certalic on February 5, 2020 2

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 50 where today we consider three reasons for why relationships are worth the work they take to grow and maintain. [Read more…] about 050: Three Reasons Why Relationships Are Worth It