The Grandpa Channel: What Life Reveals About What Matters

My mom used to say that one of the great surprises of her life was that people are irrational. But as I've come to understand people, they start to become very rational. That simple observation becomes the thread that runs through this entire conversation. Steve sits down with marriage and family therapist Sharilyn Green to talk about the lessons life has taught them both, from raising children an...

Listening Is the Truest Form of Love | What Life Taught Robert Comstock the Hard Way Some stories begin with a dream. Others begin with a leather jacket hanging in a department store. When Robert Comstock walked away from a promising banking career to start a leather business in Uruguay, he had no business plan, no investors, and no guarantees. What he did have was the courage to take the next ste...

Why Anger Makes You Blind | The Walnut Shrimp Story That Changed Our Family Sometimes life's greatest lessons arrive in the most unexpected ways. For the Harris family, it started with a container of leftover walnut shrimp, one hungry brother, one determined sister, and a practical joke that quickly spiraled into a family legend. But beneath the laughter is a lesson that reaches far beyond a refri...

The Blessing We Never Would Have Chosen What Is the Meaning of Life When Everything Changes? What is the meaning of life? It's a question many of us ask when life doesn't unfold the way we expected. For Karina Oshiro, that question became deeply personal when one of her parents went to prison while she was in her twenties. What could have defined her family as a tragedy ultimately became the begin...

The Night I Destroyed My Father's Station Wagon What My Dad Taught Me About Grace, Forgiveness, and Self-Control When Steve Harris was a teenager, he borrowed the family station wagon for a summer evening with friends. What started as an ordinary night ended with a destroyed engine, a junked car, and a lesson he would carry for the rest of his life. In this heartfelt Father's Day episode of Grandp...

Thirty-four years ago, my wife and I received surprising news: we were expecting triplets. What followed was one of the most exhausting, joyful, overwhelming, and memorable seasons of our lives. In this solo episode, I share stories from those early years of raising triplets, including sleepless nights, the legendary "car seat theater" survival strategy, and the countless people who helped our fam...

Finding purpose in life through an unexpected setback. What do you do when life suddenly stops going according to plan? For Mike Allen, a difficult season at work sparked a deeper conversation about purpose, self-worth, family, and what really matters. What initially felt like fear turned out to be something else entirely: a question of worthiness. In this thoughtful and deeply personal conversati...

Jenny Richards is a Juilliard-trained pianist, mother of four, and hospital chaplain whose life took an unexpected turn toward spiritual care after profound personal loss. In this conversation, Jenny reflects on what life taught her the hard way after losing her youngest sister to suicide, working with oncology patients, and learning that some of life’s deepest questions never fully resolve. Toget...

What is the meaning to life? For Rivers, the answer showed up unexpectedly one Saturday morning on the way to his grandsons’ football games. A man sitting cross-legged on the side of the road. A cardboard sign that read: “Anything would help.” A quiet prompting that felt inconvenient to follow. And a simple phrase that turned a passing interaction into something difficult to forget: “Thanks, famil...

If you’ve ever found yourself asking what is the meaning to life—especially after things didn’t go the way you expected—this conversation with Kimball DeLaMare is one to sit with. Kimball shares what decades of experience have taught him about life, relationships, and the lessons that only come from living through hard things. There’s a moment where he reflects: “Taking the easy way has propelled...

In this episode: Wayne Allred reflects on a lifetime of experiences that changed how he sees himself, his purpose, and his relationship with God. What started as a quiet question—what is the meaning to life—became something more personal. Through failure, faith, and moments of clarity, he came to a realization that shaped everything that followed: That he matters. This conversation explores: what...

Moments where you feel like you’re feeling stuck in life… or even feeling trapped by life you didn’t choose. And yet, something shifts when you realize: You don’t have to have everything figured out in advance. You can move forward anyway. This episode explores: what it means to loosen your grip when life feels uncertain how people learn to move through fear instead of waiting for it to disappear...

There are moments where nothing feels obviously wrong… until something shifts how you see it. In this conversation, John Brasher reflects on the kind of experiences that don’t seem big at the time—but end up changing your perspective years later. A small decision as a kid. A moment where trust was broken. A realization that integrity might be broader than you thought. These are the kinds of life l...

What does life teach you the hard way about suffering… and about hope? Why is life so hard sometimes—and what does it actually mean? In this episode of The Grandpa Channel, Rivers sits down with musician and artist Donovan Taylor to talk about mental health, resilience, and how people begin to find meaning in life through lived experience. Donovan shares his journey through years of severe mental...

What did life teach you the hard way about fear… and about trust? How do you find your purpose in life—and what is the meaning to life when everything changes? In this episode of The Grandpa Channel, Rivers sits down with Erin Allen for a conversation that moves through disruption, deep loss, and the kind of faith that is forged in experience. Erin shares the story of being prompted to face one of...

What did life teach you the hard way about love? Why is life so hard when trust is broken—and how do you learn to love again without certainty? In this episode of The Grandpa Channel, Rivers sits down with his close friend Art Brothers for a conversation that moves from childhood fractures to lasting commitment. Art reflects on growing up through his parents’ divorce and how it shaped his relation...

What happens when the life you expected… doesn’t unfold the way you thought it would? Why is life so hard when nothing goes according to plan—and how do you find your footing when everything feels uncertain? In this episode of The Grandpa Channel, Emily Snyder Burrup reflects on the moments that forced her to take full ownership of her life—from career pivots and long seasons of uncertainty to a d...

What if the people you’ve overlooked had something to teach you? In this episode of The Grandpa Channel, Glen Nelson reflects on the lessons life taught him the hard way—from growing up as a chronically ill child to realizing he didn’t have to stay where he started. After a life-altering experience with his daughter’s health, Glen began to question what really mattered—and shifted away from chasin...

Some people leave behind stories. Others leave behind ways of doing things that continue shaping a home long after they’re gone. — In this episode of The Grandpa Channel, we’re sharing the voice of Daryl Hoole—author of The Art of Homemaking and someone known for the way she ran a home with intention, order, and consistency. But this isn’t a lesson on organization. It’s a glimpse into how she thou...

Some lives don’t unfold the way they were supposed to. Not because something went wrong but because something happened that changed everything. In this conversation, Bob Farewell reflects on the moments that shaped him over time from early patterns he didn’t question to the consequences that forced him to to a life that now looks nothing like what he once imagined. This is a story about addiction...

Most people carry a quiet belief: If I work hard enough, plan carefully enough, and make the right decisions… life will go the way I expect it to. But life has a way of interrupting that. In this conversation, Jeff Taylor reflects on what it looked like to: Reach a long-held goal - and still feel unsettled Lose his career during the 2008 recession Rebuild without a clear roadmap Discover that what...

There are moments that don’t look like much from the outside. Two feet. A small shift. A single second. And then everything changes. Rebecca Critchfield was a full-time skydiver for over a decade, with more than 7,000 jumps. One unexpected moment in the air resulted in a spinal cord injury that completely altered her life. In this conversation, she shares what it actually looks like to rebuild — n...

What do you do when life doesn’t go the way you expected? In this conversation, Bob Cupitt reflects on the “sliding door” moments that shaped his life — from choosing his own path early on, to leaving teaching, building a global career, parenting through challenge, and learning that the journey matters more than the outcome. He talks about what it means to tell people what they need to hear, why r...

What happens when you spend your early life avoiding hard things… and then life drops you into the deep end? In this Confessions from Rivers episode, Steve shares a story from his early days as a young missionary in Finland—cold, homesick, and completely out of his depth. Hoping to survive the brutal winter (and maybe look a little more impressive in the process), he sets out to buy a Russian fur...

Thick Skin & a Quick Wit — Consumer Bob’s Hard-Earned Wisdom A mentor once looked at Bob Hansen and said something he never forgot: “I thought you were better than that.” Bob was 20 years old. The moment stung. But it became one of the most important lessons of his life. Bob went on to spend 40 years as a television consumer advocate known to many in Southern California as Consumer Bob, helpin...