FRESH Official Podcast

When life falls apart, as it does, it's hard to believe that God's really there – that He still cares, still listens, still holds you when everything else feels like it's slipping through your fingers. On September 5 th , 1977, NASA launched Voyager 1  – a tiny spacecraft sent to explore the edge of our solar system. It's been travelling for almost fifty years, hurtling through space at over 61,00...

How easily do you give up in prayer? When the answer doesn't come, when life stays hard, when you feel like God's gone quiet – do you persist, or do you simply stop asking? You may have heard me say this before, but I'll say it again: I used to hate Christians – all goody-two-shoes, holier-than-thou Bible-bashers. But when, not long after seriously contemplating suicide, I encountered the amazing...

Every year, at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, we pause – we remember. But remembrance isn't just about history; it's about honouring something sacred at the heart of our humanity – the courage to lay down our lives for each other. A friend of mine, Anthony Cheesman, summed Remembrance Day up beautifully when he wrote: No one wins in war, neither combatants nor civilia...

Have you ever wondered why you're here? Not just what you do, but  why . Because when life feels directionless, that question begins to ache inside you. You were made for something more – but what exactly is it? I came to faith in Jesus as a teenager. But as I moved on to my tertiary studies, career, family responsibilities, a mortgage, I drifted away to the point where I was deeply burdened with...

There are moments in life when we feel completely exposed – when disappointment, illness, loss, betrayal tear down our confidence. And in that space of vulnerability, you can almost sense the darkness pressing in. It's not just your situation; it's something much deeper than that. A friend of mine recently went through a brutal season of burnout. He'd been strong all his life – dependable, capable...

We live in a world obsessed with more – more money, more stuff, more followers. And yet, for all our abundance, we're haunted by scarcity:  What if I lose it? What if I don't have enough? So, question:  What if true wealth has nothing to do with what you earn – but with what you've already been given? Imagine someone wins the lottery – tens of millions – but forgets to check their ticket. For year...

Have you noticed how the things we chase hardest – success, recognition, security – rarely fill the ache inside? We think more money, more followers, more control will finally make life work. Yet the more we gain, the emptier it feels. So here's the question:  What if the richest part of life isn't something you can see at all? Years ago, I bought a house with gold-plated taps in the en suite. Whe...

We all hate being misunderstood. We bristle when someone mocks what we believe. Maybe it's at work, online, or around the dinner table – a sneer, a label, a joke that stings. And at some point, we begin to call that persecution. But is it really? What happens when following what's right costs you far more than pride or popularity? Across the world today, persecution is more than name-calling. Over...

You turn on the news, and there it is again – another billion dollars poured into some government vanity project while the poor go hungry, hospitals crumble, and justice is starting to feel like a bit of a luxury. It's easy to wonder:  What sort of wisdom lets people like that rule?   Surely God could have done better. The other day we chatted about paying taxes – about honouring God even when the...

You can live without food for weeks, months even, if you're carrying a bit of weight. You can live without water for days. But without breath, you have mere moments to live. When your lungs tighten and your chest burns, nothing else matters. You'd trade every comfort, every achievement, just to breathe again. So here's the thing: what if your soul is gasping too? Running, striving, doing all the "...

Have you ever looked at your tax bill on the one hand and the newspaper on the other and thought,  Really? This is what my hard-earned money is paying for? For some, taxes fund good things – hospitals, schools and the like. Elsewhere, they line the pockets of corrupt leaders or bankroll some seriously evil things. It's a wide spectrum. So what do you do when obeying the law clashes with your consc...

You know that feeling when life just doesn't add up? You're doing your best, making plans, chasing goals, but somehow it all feels disconnected, like a thousand puzzle pieces from different boxes. Bills, relationships, work stress, scrolling headlines – but no clear picture of what it's all about and where you fit in. It's like trying to assemble life without the lid of the puzzle box. Imagine tha...

Have you ever noticed how some people walk through chaos with calm you can't explain? It's not that life spares them. They've just found a peace that doesn't depend on what's happening around them. Amazing! In 1944, Dutch watchmaker and Christian, Casper ten Boom, was betrayed as a member of the Dutch underground, and then arrested by the Nazis for hiding Jews in his home. At 84 years old he was t...

When was the last time you were truly lost for words – that kind of awe that stops you mid-sentence? Maybe a sunset that lit up the sky, a newborn's cry, a piece of music that somehow reached right inside your soul. We all have those moments when beauty breaks through the noise – when you sense, even if just for a heartbeat, that there's something more. In 1968, astronaut William Anders joined the...

We tend to spend our lives chasing happiness. You know the sort of thing: holidays, success, approval, possessions. And look, there's nothing inherently wrong with any of those things. The problem is that they're never enough to fill that God-shaped hole that we all have deep inside.   In 1965, psychologist Viktor Frankl, a survivor of Nazi concentration camps, wrote that happiness cannot be pursu...

Fear's a powerful motivator. It keeps you in line, makes you comply, and even drives you to perform. But it never changes your heart. Because while fear may force compliance, only love inspires devotion  Have you ever worked in a place where the boss is a tyrant? Sure, things get done – but there's no joy, no loyalty, no life. Contrast that with a healthy workplace, where people give more on the j...

Every day we're told to  "follow your heart." It sounds freeing, fantastic – until your heart leads you into something dangerous. Deep down, even the most independent soul still obeys something: desire, fear, money, approval. The question isn't  whether  we obey, but  who or what we obey . Just imagine a pilot ignoring the control tower. He believes the instructions are good – he just doesn't foll...

When our lives fall apart, hope is usually the first casualty. The dream dies, the light fades, the silence feels final. But in God's story, even the grave isn't the end – it's merely the turning of a page. In 2010, Chilean miner Luis Urzúa and 32 of his colleagues were trapped underground for 69 days after a mine collapse. For weeks, no one knew if they were alive. Temperatures soared, food ran l...

When life hurts, our first question is almost always  why . Why this sickness, this loss, this setback? But what if the greater question isn't  why , but  who  – who's with me in this, and what might He be doing through it? In 1951, Japanese sculptor Chiharu Matsunaga lost both hands in an industrial explosion. His career – his very identity – seemed lost. During recovery, he began experimenting w...

Obedience sounds easy until it costs something. It's one thing to say "yes" to God when life feels safe – but another thing entirely when His call leads you straight into surrender. In 1519, Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico with eleven ships and hundreds of men. Facing fear and potential mutiny, he did something shocking – he burned his own ships. There would be no retreat. His men...

If you're ever going to be successful at what you do, you need to embrace efficiency – keep moving, stay focused, don't get sidetracked. But love is rarely efficient. It often arrives disguised as an interruption. In 1996, Tokyo train commuter Shizuo Tsuji, was running late for work when he noticed an elderly woman collapse at a busy intersection. Dozens of people had hurried past. But Tsuji stopp...

People seem obsessed with being noticed – climbing higher, getting ahead, standing out. But the higher you climb, the more tempting it is to forget who lifted you up. Truth: in God's kingdom, greatness doesn't rise – it bows. In 1970, Japanese engineer Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motor Company, was offered a prestigious government medal for industrial achievement. But contrary to everyone's e...

Where's God when life hurts? That question has echoed through hospital rooms, gravesides, sleepless nights for as long as people have suffered. But the truth of the gospel is this – suffering is not the absence of God. In 1940, British nurse Edith Appleton served on the front lines of WWII. Her diary tells of nights spent holding dying soldiers, their blood on her hands, their last words in her ea...

We spend our lives trying to avoid suffering – running from it, praying it away, pretending it doesn't belong in our story. But in God's kingdom, suffering and glory aren't opposites. They're two sides of the same cross. In 1889, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh checked himself into an asylum after years of emotional torment. Isolated and misunderstood, he painted in bursts of anguish and brilliance...

Do you ever wonder why some people seem to be flourishing in their faith while others dried up just as quickly as they began? They heard the same message, sang the same songs – but the results couldn't be more different. So why is it that some people seem to grow so deep in faith – peaceful, fruitful, steady – while others sprout quickly and then fade away? The difference isn't the seed. It's the...