Still Becoming One
Still Becoming One
Navigating the Mission Field and Family Life with Chris Lautsbaugh
What does it take to navigate marriage and family life while serving as a missionary? Get ready to glean invaluable insights from seasoned missionary and pastoral minister Chris Lautsbaugh, who brings three decades of experience to our discussion. We promise you'll learn about the unique challenges and rewards of raising children in a foreign culture, dealing with financial stresses specific to missionary life, and the crucial role of maintaining regular connections and good communication within the family. Chris’s wisdom on adapting to various seasons of life and ministry will leave you inspired, especially as he talks about the grace found in persevering through tough times.
God's Whole Story Podcast
Welcome to the Still Becoming One podcast. We are Brad and Kate.
Speaker 2:In our more than 20 years of marriage, we've survived both dark times and experienced restoration.
Speaker 1:Now as a licensed marriage counselor and relationship coaches. We help couples to regain hope and joy.
Speaker 2:We invite you to journey with us, as we are Still Becoming One.
Speaker 1:Let's start the conversation. Hello everyone, and welcome back to Still Becoming One.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good morning.
Speaker 1:We are really glad to have you back and really excited to be continuing our series of just introducing you to some new voices, some other people that we know who are doing amazing ministry, amazing marriage and really feel like their voices are valuable here. We're excited to introduce you to another friend of ours today.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. Yeah, you to another friend of ours today. Yeah, this morning we have actually well, we have not aired the episode yet, but we had his wife as a guest. We're saving that one. You guys will have to wait for that one, but this morning we have our good friend, chris Lotzbaugh, joining us. And just to give a little bit about Chris, we met him because he was a missionary through the church that we were all attending at the time and that was just really a sweet time getting to know him and his family. But Chris has been in missions and pastoral ministry for 30 years, so his wisdom in those areas is just broad and amazing. And, yeah, we're so thankful to have that voice for you guys to hear from. But he's continuing like what he's doing these days is freelance Bible teaching, which everyone explained to me means he moves around and does his Bible teaching and is also one of our coaches at Aldridge Ministries, so that's super exciting.
Speaker 2:And then also, chris runs his own nonprofit and is a nonprofit extraordinaire.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Not to mention being married to his lovely wife, Lindsay, for 22 or almost 22 years, almost 22 years, and they have two kids. And so, yeah, welcome Chris, we're excited to have you.
Speaker 3:Oh, thanks. It's great to be with you guys. It's fun to be able to do this with friends and coworkers.
Speaker 1:I know For sure.
Speaker 2:I know we were coworkers at the church and now we're coworkers at Aldrich Ministries. I love it. I know we were co-workers at the church and now we're co-workers at.
Speaker 1:Aldrich Ministries. I love it. I know it's amazing, so yeah. So, as Kate talked about, you have been and been done family and marriage on the mission field. You've been doing missions work for so many years, for so many years, and one of the things that we talked about just beforehand was you know how that impacts your understanding of relationships, how you've worked together with that missionary mindset in your family and relationships. What's that been like for you, Chris?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean having a family on the mission field, uh is there are some challenges to that, but it's also just very normal too. I mean that anytime that you're married and have a family, whether you have a career, you're in ministry, there there's some things that are just inherent to that. Um, of course, living overseas overseas brings another layer. It brings a different dynamic that you're not only trying to take care of your family, but you're trying to figure out a new culture, trying to figure out what is assumed that everybody there knows. But you have no clue. My wife and I made a lot of mistakes with our kids in the early years that we would send them off to school without the proper supplies because we simply didn't know. Yeah, so it adds another layer, but people are people and family is family, marriage is marriage, and so there are some things that are pretty consistent.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. I like that. That really boils it down.
Speaker 1:It does. That's amazing. I like that. That really boils it down. It does, I have to imagine, and all of us are sitting here kind of picturing. You know, marriage is marriage. You're right, and many of us deal with the challenges, the stresses of marriage. And you're talking about doing it in another country, another culture dealing with. Well, let's just face it. We all know that missionaries have financial stress wherever they go yeah.
Speaker 1:Like dealing with those stresses. So all of a sudden it's in a different level. How did you guys manage in some of those places?
Speaker 3:Well, we used to always say when my wife and I would talk, we knew that things were challenging or things were busy. You know, we were living in a new place with two kids under two in the beginning, trying to do ministry, and we just tried to take one day at a time, tried to make sure that we had regular connections, good communications, uh. But then we always just used to say when we got past that season or we got to a, a later season or a parenting, like, oh, that that was actually harder than we realized. Yeah, um. So I think there's there's grace for the moment sometimes and um, I find myself when I, when I talk to younger dads now or younger families and they're talking about different things, I actually say it's probably even harder than you realize right now because you're in the middle of it. But that season, especially when the kids are young and you're trying to kind of launch a new ministry or have your career, it's very challenging, probably more than we realize in the moment that's good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:It is difficult, it is, yeah, and I think we have to learn how to weather some of those storms. I see so often couples individuals coming to me going I don't know how we're going to get through this Kind of got that desperation place. Couples individuals coming to me going I don't know how we're going to get through this kind of that desperation place. What are the things, chris, that you leaned on, that you learned through some of those experiences when you guys go through challenges, you know, we just had to adapt to various seasons and you kind of get your game plan.
Speaker 3:But then you have to be willing to pivot on that game plan because usually just about the time you kind of get a rhythm or routine, something changes the season of ministry changes or the needs of your kids at that age. So we we tried to schedule in communication meetings I think we had a once a week time where maybe on Sunday night, that we would just connect and go through the schedule Uh, you know who's doing what for ministry, who needs to pick the kids up at school, what other extracurricular things. We tried to be really faithful in keeping a date night. You know whether that was ideal would have been once a week, but if we could even have a few in a month, that was good, yeah, and we tried to have some healthy boundaries in place with protecting family time, not letting ministry creep into everything.
Speaker 3:I think that is one of the ways that ministry, whether it's missions or church work, it can kind of become all consuming. It doesn't run by a nine to five clock and it's a lot harder to kind of leave the office and and end up back home and just set family time. So we we tried to purposely have some boundaries. We didn't drag our kids to every single ministry events, um tried to pick and choose which ones we would be a part of. Sometimes one of us would go, uh, rather than both of us, just as we tried to keep a pulse on our family. So in many ways it was just constant reevaluation, constant asking the question how are we doing, how are the kids doing, what area of our life is lacking? We would just do a lot of evaluation. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, all right, I'm going to throw you a little bit of a curveball because we didn't talk about this ahead of time, but we know you guys well, and you as well, have gone through many different seasons of ministry and marriage together, and you're in a season right now. As Kate said, we're going to have Lindsay on the podcast soon in an episode that's coming up soon, and Lindsay is right now an associate pastor.
Speaker 1:She is helping lead a church in the area and you have married a strong, intelligent woman that is very true, Right and this is one of the issues that I talk to guys about sometimes that when they marry strong women, sometimes the church's message of what they think marriage is supposed to look like doesn't quite fit how to value each other's gifts, how to encourage each other's walks and, yeah, make marriage work in this Christian environment with a strong leader woman as your wife.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love to joke and maybe we should have introduced me this way a little bit yeah, I love to joke and maybe we should have introduced me this way a little bit that my primary role right now is I'm a pastor's husband, just to just to kind of play off of the, you know, the stereotypical pastor's wife kind of role. And I think in some ways this is something that actually I did learn living overseas as well, that you know there is not just one style to marriage, to family, even the way that you're supposed to date. There are different ways to go about it and I think sometimes we get very boxed in, you know, in in the North American evangelical context we're a little bit leave it to beaver, in the sense that you know that the stereotypical role for decades was the husband would go. You know that the stereotypical role for decades was the husband would go out and work, the wife would take care of the kids.
Speaker 3:Um, I think, for for Lindsay and I there there were seasons that we fit that stereotype a little bit, but then there were other seasons where just what we were doing required us to adjust. Doing required us to adjust, and I think we need in marriage or ministry or family. We need to kind of look at the two becoming one and say, okay, so what does each person bring? And you know, it doesn't necessarily mean that just because I'm a man I have to do certain things, or just because she's a woman she has to do. But we're a team or equal participants in this marriage and raising our kids, and so sometimes we have to, we have to adjust, we have to do things in a little bit of a different way. Um, and yeah, I think that's the season we're in right now.
Speaker 3:Lindsay is full-time in ministry. I am, I have more flexibility in my schedule, I do more things online, so I'm kind of picking up some things that she did for many years when I was in full-time pastoral ministry. So we kind of look at what needs to get done and together we need to do that. And that's more important than what does the man do. What does the woman do? Important than what does the man do. What does the woman do? How much do we allow culture or stereotypes to kind of box us in and really not allow us to be who God has actually created us to be?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I love that. No, I love that. And I think that is this challenge that I see a lot of couples running into, of trying to fit into a box that they don't quite fit into.
Speaker 2:Well, I think too, as I work with women. We're trying to undo that box many times and the harm that it's caused for women, I think and of course we're talking about America, although I do have women in other countries as well but the American church like that, that stereotype has caused a lot of harm, and so I think it's just something we have to remember, as we're people who've grown up in the church. For women who've grown up in the church, it just adds another layer.
Speaker 3:That's not to say that it's always easy.
Speaker 3:I mean, whether you're a man or a woman, like we all, have things that we would prefer to do and other things that, like somebody's just got to do.
Speaker 3:I know, as a guy I have an ego and so you know, if there is a period of time that I'm doing more domestic things rather than kind of leading and doing ministry like it pokes at that, it pokes at kind of those things that I, that I'm doing more domestic things rather than kind of leading and doing ministry like it pokes at that, it pokes at kind of those things that I, that I get value from in my security in. But you know, ultimately, if we really believe that two or one, like God, when God gives my wife a task to be obedient to, that's also my task, um, and can we we see that accomplished for the kingdom? Um, yeah, so I think we just have to keep coming back to the fact that we believe that marriage were one. But sometimes we act it turns more into a competition or it turns into a bit of a tug of war, um, rather than, and we're pulling against each other rather than propelling each other forward, right, Into the same direction that God's leading.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that. That's a really good way of looking at it, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so, and we've heard some of those same words come from the church for a very long time. They're just always directed at women. Right, you're supposed to be two as one, so your job is to support his calling, and somehow I think we've ignored the fact that our wives have callings too.
Speaker 2:And that's okay.
Speaker 3:Well, isn't it interesting, though? We believe that women have callings when they're single and because, or even we believe women can do a lot ofings when they're single, um, and cause, or even we believe women can do a lot of things when they're single, like be missionaries or you know different things, but when we get married it's like okay, tradition. Well, a lot of times, culturally, the woman has to check all her ambition and gifts at the door, um, and it's like that, it, it. In some ways, it doesn't make a lot of sense.
Speaker 3:Right Um but, uh, the verse that always sticks out to me, um, and it's right before you know, a passage that we get a lot of our our teaching on marriage, on our stuff, but in Ephesians, before it talks about husband, submit to your wives and things like that, it actually says, uh, be subject one to another, to another. And then it goes into husbands, wives, children and parents, slaves and masters, even back in that context, and it's if we can maintain this posture that, like the way that I love and serve my wife is to constantly be trying to submit to her and she's doing the same thing to me, then we're actually pulling in the same direction rather than opposites. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2:That's so good.
Speaker 1:So, all right, I'm going to throw another curveball out there. One of the things that I've really valued about you, chris, is that you are a deep Bible scholar. You love to kind of teach what the bible actually says, and I've seen you really have a heart for people who are I'm going to use the buzzword but, um, who are deconstructing their faith, and not in a bad way, I think some. That's why I'm saying it's like a buzzword, because I think some people hear that and like, oh no, like that's going to be a bad thing. But I think that's why I'm saying it's like a buzzword, because I think some people hear that and like, oh no, that's going to be a bad thing. But I think you have very much supported people who are trying to understand why do I believe these things that I believe, and that is what the process of deconstruction really is. Tell me a little bit how you came to that part of your ministry and what you see about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that is a good question. I do think that you're right. The word deconstruction is such a buzzword nowadays and obviously people that are deconstructing and it results in them leaving the faith like that's not an outcome. We want is a healthy deconstruction that says how do I kind of evaluate what I was taught growing up, what's my denomination teaches me, what's my culture says is true? And then as I begin my own journey of maturity and examining scripture for myself, healthy deconstruction is where you realize, oh, I need to change. Maybe this is a cultural perspective where maybe this was just even some of my family dynamics as I was growing up, that now that I see through scripture it just causes me to look at this in a different way. And I think I had that journey kind of as a young person.
Speaker 3:When I first went to Bible school I had grown up in the church since I got saved as an early teenager, heard a lot of good Bible teaching things. But when I went through scripture, went through the entirety of it myself, there were some things that you always hear the bible says and you realize that's actually not in there or uh, there were. There were also things that just when you looked at it in its proper context, you saw in a bit of a different way, um, and that was a journey of deconstruction for me. I never lost my faith, um. Actually my faith grew stronger through it, right, but just allowing scripture to transform.
Speaker 3:How I think and actually I think that's the posture of a healthy Christian is that we constantly say God, I want to see where I don't have it right. You know, one of the things I've heard in pastoral ministry over the last number of years is now, now in the American church, a lot the way that people pick which church they go to is if they agree with everything the pastor says, which that means the pastor basically parents. What I already think and there's not really any challenge to change or think differently and I think healthy, a healthy faith in God says that there are things that I need to see differently. I'm just not quite sure what they are. So I need somebody to help point them out to me and I think and we need scripture to set that, more than more than you know denomination culture, political culture, nationalistic culture. We need scripture to shine the light on that so that we can see where we don't have it 100% right and also, we can be reinforced where we do have it right.
Speaker 1:Right, right, yeah, and that's honestly one of the things that I find really refreshing when I've heard you teach is there is a place where you get. You are often saying, hey, wait a minute. We need to separate out what does Scripture actually say versus what has culture taught you about what your faith says, and breaking them down Because, I mean, goodness, we've seen so many times where these messages from the church have done so much damage to individuals or relationships. That isn't really coming from scripture. It's coming from how it's been played out for years in the church, but very, very different idea.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think a great marriage example is, you know, going back to the leave it to beaver kind of mindset, like that was in an era where, economically, it was possible to raise a family on one income and so it worked well for the husband to go out and kind of work and the wife to stay home and take care of the kids, even families that place a high value on that. Today, economically, that is just much more difficult than it used to be Right, and so it's not. Is that model timeless, or do we need to get back to something that is always timeless, that husband and wife are equal parties working together, and that you need to figure out in your context? How can you hold that biblical truth? Well, and it might look, some families might decide that is that you know one parent stays home and one works, but in most contexts nowadays that's more difficult than it used to be in the Northern Hemisphere.
Speaker 3:Perhaps in other cultures that can still happen. Context nowadays that that's more difficult than it used to be in in the northern hemisphere, yeah, perhaps in other cultures.
Speaker 2:Uh, that can still happen it is, and I also think what you said earlier, chris, is so important. Whichever parent is staying home and brad and I have known dads who've been stay at home dads too it is still important in the marriage to what are your giftings like? And and maybe one of them is staying home nurturing the kids, but also, like, how do we make sure that you are getting opportunities to exercise those gifts, whatever that looks like? Um, because I think the leave it to beaver culture also kind of, as you said, was a culture of check your gifts at the door kind of thing. Now your gifts are just your children, which I don't ever mean to downplay. That that's huge and it's so.
Speaker 2:I consider it an honor to be able to stay home with our kids when they were young and whatnot. However, like it's also important, I think, for our kids to see that I'm more complex than that. I have other things as well that God has given me and called me to, things that I enjoy, so that they can figure out their well-roundedness as well. So I think that's really good and you're not wrong. Economically in the United States. It's really hard. It's really good and you're not wrong economically in the United States.
Speaker 3:It's really hard.
Speaker 2:Well, we all have young adults. Chris and Lindsay have young adults, and we have some young adults and teenagers and Brad and I have said several times, I don't know how they're going to make it on their own right now. It's really difficult.
Speaker 3:Yep to be that. Yeah, and they know it they have anxiety around it.
Speaker 1:Yes, they do.
Speaker 1:I'm sure they do. So, chris, back when I started doing coaching and counseling online back in 2020, when I switched from kind of in-person to online, one of the things I used to tell people that I absolutely loved about doing it online was that I got very quickly got connected with a bunch of pastors and a bunch of missionaries from all over the world who needed some support, been kind of a thing that Aldrich Ministries has been doing for. You know, honestly, since we started is trying to support pastors and missionaries all over the world, and so when we started expanding and started going okay, we're going to bring on some other coaches your name was at the top of my list from the beginning, because I knew what a gift you would have for other missionaries and pastors Not that those are the only people that you work with, but I think there is a special gifting that you bring to some of that. Tell me a little bit, chris, of your passion. You've been coaching for a long time, too. Tell me some of your passion in in those areas.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think a lot of the reason why I value it so much is because I was able to live it. And I think you realize when you're, you're sent out from your home community. When you're sent out from your home community, you're sent out from your home culture or church and you're in a new context. Like it can get lonely. It can feel like people don't understand the way I think or kind of how I process different things, the same way as when you're a missionary, you try to learn about their culture. Like there's an aspect that you're like, oh, I'm a bit of a fish out of water here. Uh, and so, to have the ability to connect with someone that understands some of what you're going through uh, whether that is, you know, understands your home culture or understands your vocational culture, um, there is, there's just such a value in it and feeling like, okay, they get me when I say this. I don't have to explain what that means. They just, they just know, yeah, and I, you know from the years that I was a missions pastor, you know, even with some of the coaching clients I have. Now, the fact that I have some overseas experience, it just like it just saves a lot of time in some ways because I just automatically understand the cross-cultural tension. I understand what it means to be misunderstood, whereas if people don't have some of that experience you have to try to help them understand and sometimes even like that could take three or four coaching sessions just to bring a coach up to speed on what normal life is like or what ministry is like.
Speaker 3:And so I always loved when I was on the field or that I could meet a peer and meet someone that just got it, and it's such a privilege for me to be able to utilize some of that experience I have for some of the clients that come through Aldridge Ministries to just help them say hey, I know what that feels like.
Speaker 3:I know what it's like to live outside your home culture. I understand cross-cultural dynamics and just be able to start there to give, I guess, a place of safety for people to share what they're going through. So it was a gift to me and something that I actually even wanted more of than what I got when I was actively overseas or in ministry, and to be able to kind of take a seat at the other side of the table and offer that. It's been a gift that you guys have provided an opportunity for me to engage in and doing it online. Yeah, it makes the world a smaller place, especially if you're kind of remote in where maybe you're serving. You might not have access to that kind of service in the nation you're in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's been such a blessing for us when we've been working with missionaries to see missionaries who are still on the field, who are working through challenges that used to send them home, because they would need just to get off the field in order to deal with this issue and they can actually process and take care of themselves and learn some things while they're still on the field. And, Kate, you and I have had just amazing experiences with people who were still doing ministry. I remember talking with somebody who was sitting in the middle of Gaza this is pre-Israel war and just sitting there talking about their calling and their ministry and why they were there and just seeing and talking about where they felt God was leading them next, and just being able to do that work with somebody who is in the middle of it.
Speaker 3:I think is a really powerful thing that you know.
Speaker 1:Yes, being able to do something online really brings the world smaller.
Speaker 3:And some of the.
Speaker 2:Go ahead, Chris Go ahead.
Speaker 1:Kate.
Speaker 3:I should say some of the challenges are a little bit unique, that you know if you're making a vocational switch, um, there there is a transition, there there's elements of you know, you leave one job, get another one. But when it's in ministry or even missions, um, discerning that transition, uh, you know, is it carries some unique components. One is, if you're a missionary living on support, you're constantly wondering, like, as I process this transition, what do I? What do I communicate with my supporters? Or with my home church? If I do this, will people still support, because that's often your income.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It just. It carries with it some unique things that are different than really a typical vocational switch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes.
Speaker 1:That's huge.
Speaker 2:I mean the missionaries that I've worked with, and I've worked with quite a few and I currently have some. It's interesting you say that because, of course, we meet with any of our clients and everything is confidential. But I always hear that Like I'm concerned, Like I can't share this in my newsletters. I can't right. There are things they need to process and have a space to be honest so that they can, you know, heal deal with whatever's going on and it is a concern. And you actually, as a missionary, we used to get your newsletters and I am realizing, because Brad and I have ministry experience but not mission, how much of a pressure that is Like having to write these whatever, how often you do them, and not being able to always share your heart of what life is actually like, what is going on.
Speaker 1:They always have to be sunshiny and positive, I guess so.
Speaker 2:And that's really hard. It breaks my heart for people because they need a space to also talk about whatever else is on their heart. So, yeah, it's just a reality.
Speaker 1:Well, and with that that comes one of the other things, chris, I think you are really good at. That expands beyond just missions. But it is that idea of burnout?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That idea of yes, idea of burnout, that idea of yes when missionaries are really struggling through that kind of transition or change. I think you have a huge heart for that, but I see your ability to walk with people through church hurt too and trying to heal from when they have felt wounded by a church that they've attended or you know those things that we hear all the time too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I do have a heart for that. I've experienced some of my own in that too. So you know that probably gives an element of it, but it is a strange thing. I've experienced some of my own in that too. So you know that probably gives an element of it, but it's, it is a strange thing. I was actually talking to someone the other day and I said you know, like we don't hear about like plumber hurt or a lawyer hurt, or you know, business owner hurts and it.
Speaker 3:I'm not trying to minimize those occupations or even just the challenges that are in that, but there's something about when there's an emotional trauma or pain and it's connected to God. It just is different and I think we greatly underestimate it. I mean, church hurt is another one of those buzzwords that like, if someone looks at you sideways nowadays you might accuse them of church hurt. And I'm not actually talking about that. Sometimes it's just style or preference and maybe just go to a different church.
Speaker 3:But, um, the truly, the, the true things that do constitute pain or potentially even trauma, uh like when, because god is connected to it, it is a very different kind of wound. Um, the same way like to to anything that happens with your, your uh, family, family trauma like that is a different level of trauma than I had a bad day and my job's going rough. My boss is a bit of a jerk Again. Those are things that we need to talk through too. But when God is connected, it has this, this different connection to our heart that we really need some time to process, some probably grieve and then usually a lot more time than we anticipate to heal yes, yes, yes, I always.
Speaker 2:I often say to my clients I don't know if this resonates, but I often say, when, when jesus is part of the trauma, like there is trauma related to him, to the church that he's called us to, there is more to untangle and it's more complicated and I think the hurt is just layered in a way. That's.
Speaker 1:Much more challenging.
Speaker 2:Yeah, often hard to work through, but I think what you said was so good of the. Healing often takes longer.
Speaker 1:I think that's huge it's very big, yeah, yeah. So, chris, before we let you go, I wanted to to plug. You have your own podcast, um that you you're part of called god's whole story. Tell us a little bit about what you do there.
Speaker 3:Sure, it is a. It's a Bible content podcast which there are two of my former coworkers and I. We actually started a number of years ago where one season we did 365 episodes. We read through the scripture chronologically and discussed it. But we we actually were realizing that there is such a need for biblical content and podcast is a great way to deliver that to a worldwide audience that you know that in many ways that the church has spent a little less time in recent decades on scripture, more time on worship, experience, those kind of things, and that's not a bad thing, time when worship experience those kinds of things, and that's not a bad thing.
Speaker 3:But there is a younger generation, 30 and under especially, that has never really got it and they're hungry for it, hungry to have their own journey, as we discussed earlier, that they can really see what does scripture say, and I just think there's an opportunity to put out some good biblical content. So we picked up with a season two. We're doing some Bible book overviews to give people a little bit of a bigger picture of the narrative of Scripture and we have hopes and dreams for going into some doctrinal things in a very applicational way, not just in a nerdy, theological way, and then even some of the disciplines of faith, but just how can we help create content to help people be formed in their journey as a disciple of Jesus, using scripture and so that's really what it's all about. And, yeah, we're in season two now and excited to be able to keep putting out some what I think is some good biblical content for people.
Speaker 1:Yep, what I think is some good biblical content for people, yep, and we will put a link to God's Whole Story in our show notes so you can find it there, or you can find it on any of your fun podcast apps, wherever you're getting this one, if you want to listen along and learn along with Chris.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, that's exciting. I can't wait to catch up on that. So, chris, before we end with you, we have a couple of questions we ask all of our guests.
Speaker 3:They're just kind of rapid fire, so number one what are you doing right now to keep your marriage alive? Oh, that's a good idea. We're taking some vacations, trying to get away a little more often. We've kind of come out of a season that we haven't done this much, so a few like one night trips.
Speaker 2:Okay, very cool, I like it. What is something that makes you laugh right now? Because we think that's so important.
Speaker 3:Oh, I have to say true confession, I'm either an officer Seinfeld fan, okay, and so I've seen them all, but they still make me laugh.
Speaker 2:Okay, I love that. That's awesome. Okay, and what is something that you are doing right now that brings you rest?
Speaker 3:I love to ride my bicycle. I'm a road cyclist and to get out there in some beautiful scenery and put some miles on the pavement gives me a lot of rest.
Speaker 2:Okay, I love it. That's awesome, very cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, usually people end up thinking about rest as like laying down and and you're like I'm going to go work out.
Speaker 2:No, I think that's awesome.
Speaker 1:No, it is and it's it's a really good rest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:Good stuff. Well, chris, we are so thrilled to have you. I knew your voice was going to be an important one not only just to share with our audience here, but to have as a part of Aldrich Ministries, and I know that you provide a huge wealth of care and compassion and knowledge to people who are going through all kinds of different relationship challenges or spiritual growth challenges, missions and ministry and all the above. So I know you're going to be impacting a lot of people and already are, which is so amazing.
Speaker 3:I'm grateful for the opportunity. It's fun to work alongside friends.
Speaker 1:Absolutely For sure. Absolutely Well. We are so appreciative of you and being on and we're really glad that we could introduce you to everybody here. Yes, so until next time on. Still Becoming One, I'm Brad Aldrich.
Speaker 2:And I'm Kate Aldrich. Be kind and take care of each other.
Speaker 1:Still Becoming One is a production of Aldrich Ministries. For more information about Brad and Kate's coaching ministry courses and speaking opportunities, you can find us at aldrichministriescom. For podcast show notes and links to resources in all of our social media. Be sure to visit us at stillbecomingonecom and don't forget to like this episode wherever you get your podcasts, and be sure to follow us to continue your journey on still becoming one.