Steadfast

Show open and Christmas gift disasters

• Have you ever bought a Christmas gift that tanked?
• Have you improved at gift giving over the years?

The hosts open the end-of-2022 show from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper with banter about Dan's near-purchase of a yak horn. They trade stories of Christmas gifts that tanked: Dan (speaker-2, addressed on-air) once wrapped his deceased sister's nurse doll for his brother as a kid; an atheist uncle once gave gag religious gifts including a Catholic Jesus nightlight, a roller-skating Jesus, and a Buddy Christ figurine from Dogma; Nathaniel's returned camera equipment; and a coupon booklet that was never redeemed. The host addressed as Boova tells the 'Uh-oh: Conversations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door' diet book his nana gave him as a teenager. Listeners are invited to call or text the complaint line (515) 517-0085 with their own gift stories.

The broken house and the Lowe's pope saga

A host gives a long comedy account of his house falling apart in a week and a half: a sink leak under the subfloor, a cracked fridge ice-maker line, radon remediation, a sparking stove, and a dead dryer. Hunting for a scratch-and-dent oven at Lowe's, he meets a lone employee who claims everyone left because the pope is in town, and learns the pope is supposedly at Nathaniel's house, where the whole Lowe's staff has gathered on the lawn. Nathaniel lets him in and agrees to give 'pope-style advice' from the balcony to disperse the crowd.

Nathaniel's pope-style advice: the three bolts

Nathaniel, addressed on-air, tells the parable he gave the crowd: on a gusty day at his maintenance job, he found an 800-pound building sign held on by only 3 of its 15 bolts and realized the lesson — in any group, just three people holding on and doing the right thing can make a big difference. He connects it to a recent family health crisis where a few people carried him through, and urges listeners who feel like the only one doing good work to keep holding on, because they may be the bolt nobody applauds.

Gratitude for the unnoticed steady work

Building on the three-bolts story, a host offers a 'things for Ben's notebook' monologue for 2023: be thankful for the work of the bolt — the steady, expected faithfulness nobody applauds. He argues that gratitude (with earnestness and humility) keeps us from presuming God's daily provision, recalls how rarely spouses acknowledge each other's unnoticed labor, and riffs on thanking the mailman and the app developer. He then invites listeners to share what God is drawing their attention to for the new year via the complaint-and-counsel line (515) 517-0085.

Dear LFTP: the husband's affair and the work of forgiveness

• I can't get over my husband's affair — what went wrong and should I stay?

Boova reads a letter from a 60-year-old woman whose husband of two and a half years had a two-month affair; counseling didn't help, and she keeps bringing the affair up while feeling stuck. The hosts counsel that the cheating was entirely his responsibility — nothing she did caused it — and that she cannot rebuild while wielding it as leverage; biblical forgiveness is radically about relieving the pain of the one who caused it, and guilt is God's realm, not a tool for spouses. Dan, asked for his thoughts on-air, adds that forgiveness is key, notes she biblically has the option to leave, and encourages real reconciliation work. The Secular answer — 'you are not a failure, your husband is' plus therapy — is read, and the hosts find it hopeless, with no hope in it.

Dear LFTP: the single brother amid sibling drama

• How can I remind my siblings that having each other around is a blessing?

A letter from a 55-year-old single man with five siblings: he is tired of hearing their constant family drama, finds living alone lonely, and fears moving closer will make him a pawn in the 'who are we all mad at this month' game. The hosts' advice is simple — you don't have to participate: set boundaries on drama conversations wherever you live, and don't let fear of proximity stop the move, since boundaries work at five minutes away or across the country. The Secular answer suggests raising the topic privately with each sibling and using the next two years to decide where to live.

Dear LFTP: the sister's belongings in the garage

• My sister's belongings are still in my garage and starting to smell — what should I do?

A letter from a woman whose formerly incarcerated sister's belongings — stored in her garage 'for a couple of weeks' — have sat there for months and started to smell, while the sister won't communicate or take responsibility. The hosts say she is overreacting about the space but has every right to draw a hard line; they advise protecting the keepsakes the sister may regret losing while junking the rest, and warn against using consequences to teach lessons — 'you're not the teacher' — since the desire to turn the screw creates something dark in the person holding the power. The segment closes with comedy about junk-removal prices versus roping a friend with a pickup truck. The Secular answer suggests a deadline followed by a junk-removal service.

Outro: call for 500th-episode stories

• How can listeners share stories for the 500th episode?

The show closes by framing the upcoming 500th live episode, about nine or ten shows away, and invites listeners to call or text the complaint line (515) 517-0085 with stories of how the show has impacted them — positive or negative. The episode ends with the sign-off: 'be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.'