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A crown can look like destiny and still hide a fracture. We open the pages of 1 Samuel and follow Saul from public promise to private unraveling, then map that arc onto our own lives: insecurity dressed up as humility, people-pleasing disguised as wisdom, and impatience sold as leadership. Through vivid moments—an unauthorized sacrifice, edited obedience, frantic counsel from a medium—we explore how slow compromises lead to fast collapses, and how confession, not concealment, marks the road back to freedom.

Across forty years compressed into a few chapters, we track the inner logic of Saul’s choices and the outer fallout on his kingdom. Along the way, we name the modern equivalents: workaholism that numbs, religious performance that tires, shortcuts that sparkle but drain the soul. We contrast those patterns with a different path—trust rooted in relationship with God, rhythms that honor limits and timing, and a willingness to let the Spirit expose roots so the fruit finally changes. The result is a grounded, practical framework: tell the truth, receive correction, choose patient obedience, and build appetites for what brings life.

This conversation blends biblical insight with candid self-reflection, offering clear takeaways for leaders, parents, pastors, and anyone tired of managing an image they can’t sustain. We end with a prayerful call to courage: let God remove what’s in the way, reorder your steps, and restore your desire for what’s good, true, and lasting. If this resonates, share it with someone who needs hope, subscribe for more, and leave a review to help others find the show. What root are you ready to face today?

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Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.

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A single Hebrew phrase reframed our view of leadership: long of nose, the image of breathing before reacting, patience over impulse. From there, we enter 1 Samuel not as a sprint through headlines but as a twenty-year map of the soul, tracking how Saul rises with promise and then slowly trades anointing for applause. The drift is subtle—unhealed insecurity, people-pleasing, and rushed decisions that look strategic but starve the inner life. We unpack why momentum can outlast presence, how warnings accumulate, and what it means when the Spirit’s covering lifts not in a moment but over years.

We also examine Israel’s demand for a king like the other nations and how that desire still echoes when we copy models that deliver optics without covenant depth. Fear becomes the byproduct of leadership detached from love: anxiety, control, envy, and division. Yet the thread of hope runs strong. Confession restores clarity. Repentance realigns desire. Across communities, rivalry is giving way to cooperation as leaders choose presence over platform and steward unity around God’s word and glory. This is not a seminar in tactics; it’s a return to covenant identity where perfect love casts out fear and obedience outruns approval.

We close with a candid invitation and a prayer: bring your whole self to God—faults, flaws, and all. Ask for a clean heart and a right spirit. Choose the slow formation that keeps you anchored when pressure says hurry. If this conversation stirred something in you, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review with one insight you’re taking into your week. Your voice helps others find this space.

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Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.

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What if the most mature thing you can do right now is weep, listen, and yield? We open the door on a raw, hopeful conversation about growing up in God—where tears mark holy ground, covenant outlasts spiritual highs, and surrender becomes a daily rhythm rather than a dramatic moment. We wrestle with a sobering world, challenge the comfort of old wineskins, and ask how to discern God’s voice without hiding behind nostalgia or national myths.

Lonnie helps us reimagine Jesus’ tone toward the Pharisees—not as a cold rebuke, but as a plea born of heartbreak. That shift changes how we speak to people drifting from faith and how we hold truth with tenderness. We look at the cross through the lens of submission: Christ trusted the Father even when he felt forsaken, modeling a faith that stands when feelings fail. From there, we talk about shared suffering, the pruning that produces fragrance, and the real work of laying down even good distractions so we can live available to God.

The story turns practical and global with our partnership at Rock of Hope in Kenya. From a small home studio, we connect with pastors, widows, and an orphanage, believing the village can blossom in agriculture, finance, and hope as we help host and steward God’s glory. It’s a quiet picture of the Kingdom’s upside-down power—the foolish things confounding the wise, the one lost sheep worth leaving the ninety-nine to find.

If you’re longing for vibrant faith that can hold sorrow and joy, conviction and kindness, this conversation will steady your steps. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help others find these stories. Where is God asking you to surrender and grow?

Support the show

Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.