Hide It Under A Bush

Show open and episode rundown

The show opens from the Pathway Studios in Johnston, with a host noting they missed last week because he was ill. He previews the episode: the Lauren Daigle and Ellen Show controversy, Josh Harris's reversal on 'I Kissed Dating Goodbye,' and a Barna survey on how Christians live out their faith at work.

Rundown continued: Barna promise, Stetzer tease, complaint-line submission

The host repents, Josh Harris-style, of his promise to stop bringing Barna surveys, teases a story about statistician Ed Stetzer heard in Colorado, and reads a complaint-line submission: encouragement plus the charge that the show wastes its first three and a half minutes. The hosts invite listeners to keep calling and texting the complaint line.

The migrant caravan and a 'Christian voucher' proposal

• Is there a mechanism for Christians to personally vouch for and take responsibility for migrants?

Prompted by the migrant caravan in the news, a host recounts a dinner-table talk with his two young daughters and floats a 'Christian voucher' idea: believers vouching for migrants, housing them and taking responsibility until they are on their feet. A co-host points to Matthew Loftus's Mere Orthodoxy essay 'Who Is My Neighbor?' on holding both the government's and the kingdom's responsibilities together; the talk drifts through C. S. Lewis, Romans 6, and James 2 on faith and works.

Lauren Daigle, the Ellen Show, and light in dark places

• Should Christians take their talents to secular platforms like the Ellen Show?

The hosts dig into the backlash against Christian singer Lauren Daigle for performing on The Ellen Show. They land on 'light goes where light goes' - sin is not a cold you catch - and test the logic with a hypothetical posed to a co-host about speaking at a strip club. A host reads Daigle's Christian Post reply ('I can't choose who I'm supposed to be kind to'), and a co-host shares that a gay couple kicked out of their last church is asking whether they are welcome at his.

Josh Harris apologizes for 'I Kissed Dating Goodbye'

• What should Christians make of Josh Harris apologizing for and discontinuing 'I Kissed Dating Goodbye'?

The hosts discuss Joshua Harris's public apology for 'I Kissed Dating Goodbye' and his decision to discontinue it, praising the humility of admitting he got it wrong. They revisit the courtship movement's promises, argue that dating helps couples learn compatibility, and contrast feelings-based love with hesed - the covenant love of Exodus 34 that does not move. The conversation ranges over marriage reality, the cohabitation critique, and why couples need honest community.

Barna survey: Christians at work

• What are Christians' responsibilities in the workplace?
• Is blunt truth-telling compatible with Christian honesty, or is it just being a jerk?

The hosts work through Barna's 'Christians at Work' survey: 82% say act ethically, 74% speak the truth, 59% withstand temptation - but only 26% say sharing the gospel is a workplace responsibility. They riff on the low bar, the gap between befriending non-Christians and evangelizing them, whether blunt truth-telling counts as honesty, and a Luther-attributed shoemaker story: 'love Jesus and make good shoes.'

Bible verses about shoes

• What Bible verses mention shoes or sandals?

An impromptu game: which Bible verses mention shoes or sandals? The hosts land on holy ground (Exodus 3), shoes that did not wear out in the desert, Psalm 108 ('Moab is my washbowl... I shall throw my shoe'), the Song of Songs ('how beautiful are your feet in sandals'), Romans 10 ('how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news'), Isaiah 9:5, and the readiness of the gospel of peace.

Anxiety sidebar and quiz setup

A host shares a line from Fantastic Beasts about anxiety - worrying means getting 'burned twice' - and notes Jesus says the same thing about not worrying. The hosts then set up a Bible occupations quiz for listeners to play along at home.

Bible quiz: occupations

• What were the occupations of various Bible figures?

The hosts take a nine-question Bible occupations quiz: Nimrod the mighty hunter, Tubal-Cain the artificer, Luke the physician, Paul the tentmaker, Joseph the carpenter, Nehemiah the cupbearer, Alexander the coppersmith, David under Saul (they answer musician; the quiz says armor bearer, citing 1 Samuel 16:21), and the Ethiopian eunuch the treasurer. Final score: 8 of 9, 89%.

Dear LFTP: the 34-year-old living with his father

• How should a 34-year-old living with his verbally abusive father handle his building rage?

A host reads a Dear LFTP letter from a 34-year-old unemployed man living with his verbally abusive 76-year-old father, whose building rage makes him want to tell his dad off. The verdict is blunt: get a job, move out, live on your own, and find a community of men who will challenge him. The Secular answer agrees - do not tell him off; find work, save, and move out for his own self-respect.

Dear LFTP: grandparents and a granddaughter afraid of failing

• How should grandparents encourage a perfectionist granddaughter who is afraid of failing?

A host reads a Dear LFTP letter from grandparents, nearly 80, who took their granddaughters (16 and 13) on a two-week European cruise; 16-year-old Megan, a straight-A perfectionist, confessed she is afraid of failing. The hosts advise: the bar is doing your best, not perfection, and what matters is that she knows she is loved. The Secular answer adds: assure her your love never changes whether she succeeds or fails, and point her to her parents or a school counselor.

Olive trees, Fig Newtons, and the multi-fruit tree

Closing banter spirals from Goodwill motivational posters and a brother's ironic wine-bottle art into a rant about a store tree grafted to grow three kinds of fruit at once, a wish for an olive tree that survives Iowa, and an investigation of the Fig Newton: created in 1891 by the Kennedy Biscuit Works, named for Newton, Massachusetts, with an alternate origin story crediting Charles Roser. It ends with a Sir Isaac Newton knock-knock joke.

Outro

The hosts close out: the show is terrible, send complaints to the complaint line, and the sign-off - be faithful in the means; God will handle the ends.