Looking Over Life

Shawn and James look over the Bible translations survey they sent out over a year ago. They look at what translations people use personally, what people’s “official” church translation is, and how open churches are to changing to a translation other than the KJV. The findings are interesting, though not completely surprising. People's personal beliefs and use of different Bible translations differ...

James and Shawn dive deep into some of the questions that many families are confronting today: What should I allow my children to look at? When should I give them a smartphone? How can I protect them from ungodly online content? Should I let my child use social media? Parents are now dealing with a lot of pressures from the internet, social media, and smartphones that didn’t really exist a decade...

After Shawn accuses James of being a flaming liberal, they discuss the meaning and origin of the terms "conservative" or "liberal" and how they should or shouldn't apply to the Christian. Do some people naturally orient one way or another based on their personality or stage in life? How are conservative and liberals in the church to work together? Was Jesus a conservative or a liberal? And what do...

James and Shawn talk about whether the rise of smartphones and computers will make handwriting unnecessary. But before attempting to answer that question, they make a diversion into Bible design and how it can affect your reading experience. They discuss fonts, typefaces, leading, and whitespace, so beware if you aren't a typography nerd. They then address the main topic and talk about whether...

Shawn learns what it's like to watch an eclipse, or at least James tries to convey his experience. It's an event that is not to be missed! James and Shawn also answer some questions from you, our listeners. Are we becoming more casual and losing our sense of etiquette and manners? How important it is to hold onto these things? What are "generational sins"? What did God mean when...

Shawn and James talk about the bad things that happen in the world. We look at questions like, "How can a good God let bad things happen?" We discuss whether or not God is responsible for the bad things that happen in our lives. Did God cause your loved one to die? Did He direct in those events? What about when your child spilled his breakfast cereal? Did God direct in those events? How...

James and Shawn consider a recent loss and what it means to grieve. We also look at some tough questions, like, "How can a good God allow bad things to happen?" We're sure that your life has been touched by loss. We'd like to hear from you. How did you—or are you—dealing with that loss? How do you reconcile a good God and bad things? Send us an email. We also discuss the idea of...

Shawn and James go over their yearly themes—together in a van! We reviewed the themes for 2023 (Year of Appetite and Year of Key Actions) and looked at our themes for 2024 (Year of Devotion and Year of Family). If you use a yearly theme, we'd like to hear about it. How do you make it work for you? What have you learned? Send us an email! Email: lookingoverlife@gmail.com  Website:  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠look...

Shawn and James talk about crossing the milestone of 10,000 listens on the podcast. They also talk about the future of the podcast and give a sneak peek at the topic of a future episode. Shawn is heading to the States with family in tow while James and his wife recently added another son to their family. Both of us have big dreams for what we hope to accomplish in 2024. Will we be successful, or w...

Shawn and James talk about whether Christians should be willingly ignorant about some things in the news and how the tsunami of information from the Internet is affecting us. How much are we responsible to know about what is happening in the world? What global issues should Christians feel compelled to address? What does Jesus call us to? How much information consumption is too much? We talk about...

James and Shawn try to figure out what modern idolatry looks like. Do you have a temple in your town that holds the idol that all your neighbors worship? Who is the patron saint of your community? Of your culture? Or maybe there really aren't idols in our modern, enlightened world. We'd like to hear from you. What do you think about modern idolatry? Send us an email. Email: lookingoverlife...

Shawn and James are back to put to rest the debate for or against a Creator. Did you know that Cristians believe in the Big Bang Theory? What can you answer someone who tells you there is no way to prove God's existence through science? How can we talk about the Anthropic Principle in the Walmart aisle? These and more questions are pondered in our episode that is rapidly becoming a series. Wha...

James and Shawn wrap up the series about evidences for Creation. In this episode, we look at some of the more difficult questions against creationism and offer some ways to think about them. We tried to give some answers that you can use in the check-out at the grocery store, but we're not sure how well we did with that. What do you consider a difficult question about Young Earth creationism a...

Shawn was surprised by an idea James came with about the invention that had the most fundamental change to humanity. What do you think about topic? What would you describe as the most important invention or development in history? Is it ChatGPT? The wheel? We'd really enjoy hearing your thoughts, so send us an email! Email: lookingoverlife@gmail.com  Website:  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lookingoverlife.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

James and Shawn finally get to this long-awaited topic! And Shawn learns just how dangerous it is to use the phrase "only a theory" with James! Is there truly a conflict between science and religion? Or is that just an idea that should be de-bunked? Well, we certainly try to show another point of view on the topic. We really want to hear from you. Do you agree with what we shared? Did we...

Shawn and James enjoy recording a podcast in person in Peru! This time we talked about how we keep our devotional lives alive. What even is devotion? How do we cultivate a genuinely close relationship to God? What happens when we fall off the wagon? If you have any ways that you keep you private times with God vibrant, please send us an email with your tips. Email: lookingoverlife@gmail.com  Websi...

James and Shawn share another FWIW episode with the LOL audience. We look at the seventh and final habit of the book and close out what was a rather long book review. In this habit, we discuss how important it is to take care of oneself before being able to do the important things in life. We looked at the four categories Covey gives of Physical, Mental, Social/Emotional, and Spiritual care. How d...

Shawn and James have another Q&A conversation. We talk about how James isn't really a science person after all and why Shawn decided to move to Peru. James also teaches us how to make and Indian dish. Please be sure to share this episode with a friend. It really helps us out. And if you have any questions for us, send us an email! Email: lookingoverlife@gmail.com  Website:  ⁠⁠lookingoverli...

James and Shawn talk about death and separation and the feelings that go with it. James recently experienced a loss in his family and was pondering thoughts of death and life, so we decided to take some time to talk about it together. We hope this conversation can be meaningful to you, as well. If you have any thoughts you could share with us, please send us an email. We'd love to hear from yo...

Shawn and James talk about artificial intelligence. We spend a good bit of time focusing on ChatGPT and its potential effects on society and the church. Will we become even more lazy and dumb as a society now that we have yet another crutch to lean on? We also had a bit of fun having the bot write some short stories based on our prompts. Have you been using a chatbot like this? What do you think o...

James and Shawn look on the bright side. We flip the coin and talk about what excites us for the future. Shawn again took a more narrow, personal view of the future and got choked up thinking about it. James was again more focused on the broad view of society and the church and where trends may take us. Did you know there are good and hopeful things coming out of Millennials?! We'd love to hear wh...

Shawn and James pretend to be grumpy old men. We talk about some of the things we see in the future that give us concern. James focused mainly on big-picture societal issues that make him worried about the future of the church, the country, and the world. Shawn was more focused on his circumstances as they relate to the church and community in Peru and what the next five to ten years may bring. Wh...

James and Shawn have a Q&A for themselves with questions intended to stump each other. This was a fun episode for us to do, and we may do it again, but we would like your help. Do you have a question or several that you would like to hear talked about? Please send us an email! And don't forget to answer the bonus question. Email: lookingoverlife@gmail.com Website: lookingoverlife.com Patreon:...

Shawn and James talk about their plan for better Bible reading. We discuss what we've tried over the years and what we've found works for us. James brought a number of downloadable resources for easy Bible plans while Shawn tried to humblebrag without seeming to. What is your plan for Bible reading this year? Do you have a favorite or most effective method? Please let us know. Send us an email. Em...

James and Shawn go over their yearly themes. We do a quick review of our themes for 2022 before we dig into what we want 2023 to look like. If you have a yearly theme, please let us know what you'll be doing. We would love to hear from you and gain some inspiration from your story. Email: lookingoverlife@gmail.com Website: lookingoverlife.com Patreon: patreon.com/lookingoverlife Ink & Volt Yea...