2016 Episode 29

Show open from the Pathway Studios

The show opens with the standard greeting - "Live from the Path, from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper" - and the host welcomes listeners to the evening's show.

Listener question: bad news in a relationship that's good for God

• How do we handle bad news in a relationship when it's actually good for God?

A host frames the episode's big question, stuck in guest JC's mind: how do you have bad news in a relationship happen when it's actually good for God, and how do you handle that specifically? The question gets its full answer later in the pope-style advice segment.

Dear LFTP teaser and Mike's parenting corner setup

A host addresses Mike about tonight's Dear LFTP letter - a married woman who can't let her husband out of her sight - then segues into Mike's parenting corner (kids who won't release a hug) and sets up the evening's 'pop style' recap of last week's evangelism conversation with Brett Brycely.

Olympics comedy: green pool, couch-kayak, desperate Christians

Extended Olympics riffing: a kayaker who capsized after hitting a submerged couch, the Rio green pool ('you have to intentionally make it green'), Olympic concession-stand gripes, and a longer rant about Christian websites desperately tagging any Olympian who says 'thank God' as a fellow believer.

JC performs 'Leave the Light On' and talks songwriting

Guest JC (addressed as 'Jaycee' on air) performs her single 'Leave the Light On' - available on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and Spotify - then explains the song isn't autobiographical: songwriting for her is storytelling, and the track just came out that way. More of her music is at jcofficial.com.

JC on recording in Nashville: studio musicians and timpani

JC talks about heading back to Nashville in November to start her next project (EP or full album still undecided), how she picks songs with her producer and manager, the intimidation of playing with session musicians - and her hope that a new song gets timpani, 'war drums', on it.

Pop Style: love God and the rest is overflow

• How do we fall in love with God?
• What are the right next steps for learning to love God?

Recapping last week's conversation with Brett Brycely about talking to people about Christ, a host reframes his whole fall community curriculum: love for God is the starting point and everything else - loving people, evangelism, discipleship - is the overflow. Running on mechanics (Bible knowledge, rituals) without devotion is the failure mode. Another host agrees, saying he'd written down the same question - how do we fall in love with God? - and they land on accepting that you are already loved, 'and yet, I am loved,' as the first step.

JC introduces and performs 'Questions'

JC introduces 'Questions' - a song about growing up in the church and needing to find your own truths rather than just believing what your parents believe, plus being a Christian kid in public school having to give 'correct' answers to things you know aren't right - then performs it.

Reaction to 'Questions' and the hammer-dulcimer bit

The hosts praise 'Questions' - one hears a gypsy-camp shanty-town vibe in the tempo and dynamics - then riff on adding hammer dulcimer to the recording: a host jokes 'No, Ben. No?' at the organ-grinder suggestion, and they settle on Ted Yoder as the man for a hammer dulcimer (he also told them about a keyboard tape-playing 'Velophone' the Beatles used).

Pope style: Boova's God-centered relationship advice

Addressed as 'Buva' (and 'pope Bubba') on air, Boova takes the pope-style game prompt and turns it into a raw, personal answer to the episode's opening question. Seven hours earlier something hit him hard in his own dating relationship: his first reaction - not wanting his girlfriend's missions trip extended - was selfish, and he realized God's kingdom, her walk with Him, and his own must come before what the couple wants. His advice: each partner is first a brother or sister in Christ, and that relationship with God is the most important piece of the relationship.

Dear LFTP: the widow who can't let her husband go

• I'm so attached to my husband that he can't get work done and is missing deadlines. How do I stop?

In the 'Ladvice' (life plus advice) portion, a host reads a letter from a woman in her second marriage - her first husband died when their daughter was five months old - who is now so attached to her current husband 'Robert' that she distracts him from work and he misses deadlines. The hosts, joined by guest JC, answer directly: she knows it's too much and has to just stop - quit cold turkey, physically separate during work hours, tough it out like adults.

Secular answer to the widow's letter

The Secular persona answers the same letter: the writer lost her first husband and is terrified something terrible will happen to this one too; because it's hurting his career she must learn to manage the insecurity - the fastest way is a licensed psychotherapist, or, much cheaper, just going outside for a while.

Dear LFTP: the co-pay-before-service senior

• Shouldn't a doctor's office trust its established patients enough to let them pay after the service is rendered?

A senior-citizen letter-writer is shocked her specialist now demands the co-pay before the visit and asks whether a doctor's office shouldn't trust established patients. The hosts' answer: the office runs on a system and medical non-payment is rampant, and her need to feel trustworthy is misplaced in an annual visit - while Dan (addressed by name) confesses he is part of the problem, letting small medical bills stack into collections, and the hosts riff on Subway, Applebee's, McDonald's and movie-theater payment norms.

Secular answer to the co-pay letter

Secular's answer: being asked for the co-pay up front likely has nothing to do with the writer's personal trustworthiness - her doctor may simply have had too many patients delinquent in payment (with a joking nod to 'Dan of the Midwest'). She should discuss it with her physician, who may make an exception given the long relationship, or take her business elsewhere.

Medical-billing comedy: itemized bills and the ambulance jeans

The hosts keep riffing after the secular answer: $2 Band-Aids and newborn diapers on itemized bills, a host telling Mike's family car-accident story - the ambulance crew cutting off his brand-new $35 tax-return jeans with no ChapStick in sight, then the helicopter with Vivaldi and 'more lip balms, sir' - and the verdict that the medical community has a PR problem.

Closing: JC performs 'Bad Omen'

The show closes with JC's 'Bad Omen' - another unreleased song slated for the future album/EP - plus plugs for jcofficial.com (the Going South EP, including 'Where I've Made My Bed' and 'Hey Hey,' which she played on her last visit) and the sign-off: 'be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.'