Shows
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressReading the Bible Amid the Culture Wars: In His Right Mind 2Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," asked Senator Charles Sumner to come to the aid of a needy citizen. When Sumner turned her down with the excuse that he had grown too busy to concern himself with individuals, Howe replied, "Charles, that's remarkable. Even God hasn't reached that stage yet."The problem with our sense of “where the problem is” is that we are like the people of Gadara. When you ask, “Where is evil?” they would point to “that man over there.” We’re pretty sure the problem is “out there” somewhere—bad people...
2026-02-1216 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressReading the Bible Amid the Culture Wars: In His Right MindThe problem with our sense of “where the problem is” is that we are like the people of Gadara. When you ask, “Where is evil?” they would point to “that man over there.” We’re pretty sure the problem is “out there” somewhere—bad people, bad institutions, bad laws, bad luck. But Jesus in the gospels knew the truth—if evil lives out through our social structures, it is birthed in the human heart. Evil, as Walter Wink puts it, has no existence apart from dwelling within and among us humans. Support the show
2026-02-0725 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressSquanto's KindnessIt is rather peculiar that a holiday so connected with abundance and the numbering of blessings would have begun as gratitude for bare survival, but fitting. Thanksgiving is the recognition of our dependence on God, not the congratulating of ourselves. We are blessed, but not deservedly. Life is a gift from Someone, not something to which we are entitled. It is a time to stop, take stock, and celebrate in the spirit of those early survivors. Transcript can be found at https://garyfurr.me/2025/11/28/squantos-kindness/ Support the show
2025-11-2815 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressEmbracing Your HumanityYears ago, I spoke to a group of young ministers recently out of seminary. I shared a list of learnings to help them. Number 5 went, "Church people are sinners, but, hey, imagine what they used to be like. If you want honesty in advertising, then here’s a church slogan for you: “We’re old, we’re dull, but hey, you ain’t no prize yourself.” Support the show
2025-11-0416 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressStrangers and OrphansImmigration is both a continual theme of the American story and a recurring point of conflict. The deep divisions of the current moment are echoes of the past the we ignore and repeat. Support the show
2025-10-0415 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressChaplain of the DayA dead battery, a cussing mechanic, and an invitation to give a devotion to the Georgia Senate. Just another lesson in maturity in spite of myself. Support the show
2025-10-0214 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressShadow Prayers, Then and NowI wrote to reflect not just on what was lost, but on what was revealed to me, even in the worst of times—about faith, about love, about fear, about my worries that all our efforts to stay alive as the church wouldn’t be enough, only to discover on the other side that what held these precious, human, imperfect souls in my charge together wasn’t me or the staff, or the building after all. It was the fragile threads of faith and the mystery of God that binds us, even when it seems completely absent to our view.
2025-08-2909 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressLove One Another part 3When we love our neighbor this way, forgetting ourselves in love for another, we connect with the powerful love that is at the heart of all things. It is life-giving. It is also impossible unless God helps us to love. And yet we know, from those moments in life where we see it clearly, that this is what we were made for. So why don’t we love each other this way, if it is what we were made for? Support the show
2025-08-2116 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressLove Your Neighbor--Part 2...This can be stated as a truism: You will love others as you love yourself. That is, your own self-perception becomes a filter through which you view everyone else. Support the show
2025-08-1013 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressLove Your Neighbor--Part 1 Being like ancient Babylon rings a bit hollow, but the power movers seem to say, “Oh, you’ll be a lot happier. Just don’t be the one under the bus. Be a thrower.” Well, that’s one way to do it, I suppose. The historical record is fairly bleak about oppression, cruelty and rage as a long-term strategy. So, what else can there be? Support the show
2025-07-2210 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThe Gift of DoubtIt may surprise you to know this is quite common. Among every writing by the most important and influential Christian thinkers and theologians and leaders, there are stories and journals of paralyzing doubts and fears. It's part of the whole journey to spiritual maturity. Support the show
2025-06-1015 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressEasterThe pastor preached a gospel sermon of hope and resurrection. The worship was inspiring. AsI left, I felt something in my chest, a familiar and indescribable twinge, as though I had accidentally walked into a beautiful hidden room full of old treasures from an earlier life. It was hope. Support the show
2025-04-3009 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressGlimmers of HopeWe are in a profoundly toxic public moment. But I will remind us that down on the ground, there is far more hope and light than you’d think from watching your preferred media. I’d suggest we let our children and teachers remind us again of who we are. Support the show
2025-03-2110 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThoughts in SolitudeAs Lent begins today, reflections on the life and words of Thomas Merton. Amid the chaos of ultranationalism and disruption, we need to grow deeper, not more distracted. Elton Trueblood told us, "We shall never have a better world until we have better persons in it."In the insanity of this present moment, finding inner peace is not an escape, nor a contradiction. It is essential, to be able to hear thaT inner voice that will enable us to sift wheat from chaff, sense from nonsense, and hear the moral imperative that may spur us on to...
2025-03-0519 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThe Price of AdmissionAn unforgettable day. But I was most touched by something his daughter said that night. She told us a little-known fact—that part of his childhood was spent in a children’s home. His family was disconnected by life. She said one of the reasons he loved sports teams so much was that family life had been hard for him. At the park, though, no matter who you were, or even what you had done, as long as you had the price of admission, you could get in. Support the show
2025-01-1813 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressJimmy Carter's VisionIn other words, unity of heart, spirit and love can exist even though we must have differences that will take longer to resolve. We begin with this willingness to know a fellow Christian’s heart and build upon the possibility of fellowship. It does not mean give up our convictions. But we must begin with the hardest and highest call Jesus gave to us—to love one another as He loved us. That is not what we do once we have worked out all our disagreements, our differences or our hurts with one another. Forgiveness itself is born out of obedie...
2025-01-0912 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThe Visit of the MagiI want you to consider this: three astrologers came from Persia, without knowing anything about who they were dealing with in Herod. The salvation of the world lay innocently in the arms of his mother, nothing to protect him from the power of the state. His fate depended on these strangers and what they were to make of a dream they had that likely woke one of them up in the middle of the night with an uneasy feeling. Support the show
2024-12-2117 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressChristmas CardsCryptic and mysterious messages begin coming through the unlikeliest of messengers: an elderly woman in a nursing home. Crowds flock to see her, and experts try to determine what causes it. The local ministers are perplexed. Is it the medication? Dementia? Wishful thinking? Support the show
2024-12-1023 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThe Stories of ChristmasIt was a desperate time. You might even say the worst of times. And the story plainly says that while we were still lost in the tragedy called sin,God showed up, as Forrest Gump once said. Support the show
2024-12-0409 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressWhen the Vote is OverSince America is still sorting out the end of yesterday's tribal war, with one group acting like they won the Iron Bowl and the other looking for an immigration application to Canada, maybe it would be better to tell a story about something else. A church vote and a lesson in winning and losing. Support the show
2024-11-0717 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressStraight TalkI wish everyone could know, way early on, that they’d have to make that journey one day. That it might be a long way, and your transportation limited, and time running out. I guess then I might have lived some things a little differently. It was so easy when time seemed to stretch out forever to think it didn’t matter as much as it actually did, even then. That so much of the virtual foolishness of our time doesn’t mean anything at all, and other things we are neglecting mean everything. Support the show
2024-10-1312 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressNail-pullingI spent Labor Day relaxing a bad board on my deck and I'm pulling nails. You know, nails go in easier than they come back out. Eventually, a board gets so bad you have to do something, and there you are,having to repair, pull ‘em out, and sometimes, when all else fails, just drive the dang thing down into the board, forever there to mock you. Support the show
2024-09-0313 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressCancer and Faith in the Wilderness“ONE MOMENT I WAS a regular person with regular problems. And the next, I was someone with cancer. Before my mind could apprehend it, it was there—swelling to take up every space my imagination could touch. A new and unwanted reality. There was a before, and now there was an after. “ Support the show
2024-08-0413 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressHang Down Your Head, Tom DooleyCryptically, Tom said in his last words before dying, that he had never harmed a hair on that girl’s head. So which was it? Here is the essence of great murder mystery—passion, jealousy and betrayal, intrigue, and rivalry of others. Support the show
2024-07-1616 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressStart YoungWhen we are wringing our hands, troubled in mind, struggling with hope and anxious to the gills, I can pick up my mandolin our guitar at home, play a tune, and feel something lift out of the room. Wherever that sound came from (and as a man of faith, I think I know), it says, “There’s still something unexpectedly beautiful up ahead. Go on, and don’t give up.” Support the show
2024-06-1806 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressJune 6 1944It wasn’t a perfect world, and a lot of divisions and pain were yet to come. But they had one shining moment, too young to even understand, when they poured onto those bloody beaches, the fate of the Western World on those shoulders. Support the show
2024-06-0605 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThe Anxious Generation: reviewIn today's podcast I review Jonathan Haidt's important book on the impact of social media and phones on our children. A powerfully important book and research to know about.Children are learning socially, experimentally, all the time. He is hopeful that it is not yet too late. His chapters are very readable and accessible. He places summaries at the end of each section so that his argument is plainly understandable. He adds:teens who spend more time using social media are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and other disorders, while teens who spend m...
2024-05-2813 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressEclipse“The second before the sun went out, we saw a wall of dark shadow come speeding at us. We no sooner saw it than it was upon us, like thunder. It roared up the valley. It slammed our hill and knocked us out. It was the monstrous swift shadow cone of the moon.” Annie Dillard Support the show
2024-04-0812 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressHoly Week: Standing at a DistanceThey stood at a distance while the women cried, brokenhearted, devastated, sobbing, and his mother beyond soothing. Support the show
2024-04-0203 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressHoly Week: Rolling StonesPoetic reflection. When your hopes are dead and you're going to the tomb with an impossible stone to move, what will you do? Support the show
2024-03-3107 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressHoly Week: The HarrowExcerpt from SHADOW PRAYERS. A poetic reflection on the bewildering sentence in the Apostles' Creed that says, "He descended into hell." Support the show
2024-03-3005 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressHoly Week: Sleepover in the Church of the Holy SepulcherOn a trip to Israel in 2010 I ended up voluntarily being locked in to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the traditional site of the crucifixion. As the crowds left and a handful of vigil-sitters and contemplators stayed behind, this happened. Support the show
2024-03-3003 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressHoly Week: By a Charcoal FireThere are two charcoal fires mentioned in the gospel narrative of Holy Week. One is where people were warming their hands and identified Peter as one of the disciples. The other was on the shores of Galilee. Support the show
2024-03-3004 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressHoly Week: TennebraeA poem about Tennebrae,f the observance of the deathly silence between crucifixion and Easter Sunday Support the show
2024-03-2903 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressHoly Week: Good FridayThree poems about the pivotal day in the Christian story, full of every human failure and treachery and the heroic and inexplicable faithfulness of Jesus, immovable as all around him collapsed. All poems by Gary Furr."Good Friday""Pontius Pilate""The Crucifixion" Support the show
2024-03-2907 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressHoly Week: The Silences of Holy WeekThe terrible silences of holy week give spaces for something radically new.. But we anre afraid, so afraid, that we are going to be alone, that we are forsaken, that there is only absence and death and decay. We talk about presence, but truthfully, we do almost everything we can to keep it out of our awareness. We may see things we don’t want to see and have to do something about it. Support the show
2024-03-2815 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressHoly Week: The Last Week of LifeA look at the last week of Jesus of Nazareth's life on earth offers a question for us all. When the end is near, how should I live? What would I do differently? Support the show
2024-03-2611 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressHoly Week: Walking in the ShadowIt is uniquely American to race past hard times and on to the future. As we still grapple with the upheavals of our society wrought by the pandemic, we crave normality without having to do the hard work of real understanding. As we enter Holy Week, my reflections come from the book I wrote in 2022, SHADOW PRAYERS, reflecting on a final year of full-time ministry amid the crises of 2020 and 21, as I reflected on the catastrophic changes that are still with us. Support the show
2024-03-2418 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressBad Case of Healthcare BluesThe question isn't how do we connect spiritual life and healing: it's how did they ever get separated in the first place. At a national conference for caseworkers, I shared six sentences for healing professionals. They're actually valuable for everyone as we seek to be well and bring health to others. Support the show
2024-02-2916 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressMount Nebo Tales: Remembering Where You Come FromIt's worth it to look back when you know how. In this story from the fictional town of Mount Nebo, a young man finds himself returning to the place he said he'd never go, to live among people who were strangers in more ways than one. And the beginning of a journey that would lead him in places he did not yet understand. It's a journey we are all on. Support the show
2024-02-2318 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressLent on Valentines DayThe odd coincidence of Lent on Valetine’s day leads to a reflection on the tension between letting go and taking up in this episode. A reading from my book, Poems, Prayers and Unfinished Promises. Support the show
2024-02-1416 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThe Principle of ForgivenessEndless forgiveness or endless revenge? Reflecting on the bewildering teaching of Jesus from the gospel of Matthew. Support the show
2024-02-0616 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's Progress🔒 SHADOW PRAYERS AUDIOBOOK Part 3 Holy WeekSubscriber-only episode
2024-01-2824 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's Progress🔒 SHADOW PRAYERS AUDIOBOOK Part 1 Preface and IntroductionSubscriber-only episodeThe Introduction to the AudiobookShadow Prayers Reflections from a Pandemic YearWritten in 2021, Shadow Prayers is a Memoir of a Pastor's final year of ministry, guiding a congregation through the toxic time of pandemic, political division and racial divide. Written copies available for order.https://garyfurr.me/writings/“Through his psalm-like collection of writings, he captures the melancholy and mourning of the year of 2020, while simultaneously holding a lantern for a way forward, for today and years to come.” – Jenny Eaton Dyer, PhD, Vanderb...
2024-01-2812 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressSHADOW PRAYERS Part 2 LentListen to the Lenten reflections from the Audiobook of Shadow Prayers: Reflections From a Pandemic Year. As the pandemic began its grim spread across the world, a collective isolation pulled humanity and its institutions into a crisis of meaning. Lent was a fitting companion as life as we knew it eroded. Support the show
2024-01-2831 min2024-01-2815 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's Progress🔒 SHADOW PRAYERS AUDIOBOOK Part 6 Ordinary TimeSubscriber-only episodeShadow Prayers Reflections from a Pandemic YearWritten in 2021, Shadow Prayers is a Memoir of a Pastor's final year of ministry, guiding a congregation through the toxic time of pandemic, political division and racial divide. Written copies available for order.https://garyfurr.me/writings/“Through his psalm-like collection of writings, he captures the melancholy and mourning of the year of 2020, while simultaneously holding a lantern for a way forward, for today and years to come.” – Jenny Eaton Dyer, PhD, Vanderbilt University, founder,The 2030 Collaborative
2024-01-2846 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's Progress🔒 SHADOW PRAYERS AUDIOBOOK Part 7 AdventSubscriber-only episodeShadow Prayers Reflections from a Pandemic YearWritten in 2021, Shadow Prayers is a Memoir of a Pastor's final year of ministry, guiding a congregation through the toxic time of pandemic, political division and racial divide. Written copies available for order.https://garyfurr.me/writings/“Through his psalm-like collection of writings, he captures the melancholy and mourning of the year of 2020, while simultaneously holding a lantern for a way forward, for today and years to come.” – Jenny Eaton Dyer, PhD, Vanderbilt University, founder,The 2030 Collaborative
2024-01-2811 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's Progress🔒 SHADOW PRAYERS AUDIOBOOK Part 8 ChristmasSubscriber-only episodeShadow Prayers Reflections from a Pandemic YearWritten in 2021, Shadow Prayers is a Memoir of a Pastor's final year of ministry, guiding a congregation through the toxic time of pandemic, political division and racial divide. Written copies available for order.https://garyfurr.me/writings/“Through his psalm-like collection of writings, he captures the melancholy and mourning of the year of 2020, while simultaneously holding a lantern for a way forward, for today and years to come.” – Jenny Eaton Dyer, PhD, Vanderbilt University, founder,The 2030 Collaborative
2024-01-2806 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's Progress🔒 SHADOW PRAYERS AUDIOBOOK Part 9 EpiphanySubscriber-only episodeShadow Prayers Reflections from a Pandemic YearWritten in 2021, Shadow Prayers is a Memoir of a Pastor's final year of ministry, guiding a congregation through the toxic time of pandemic, political division and racial divide. Written copies available for order.https://garyfurr.me/writings/“Through his psalm-like collection of writings, he captures the melancholy and mourning of the year of 2020, while simultaneously holding a lantern for a way forward, for today and years to come.” – Jenny Eaton Dyer, PhD, Vanderbilt University, founder,The 2030 Collaborative
2024-01-2844 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's Progress🔒 SHADOW PRAYERS AUDIOBOOK Part 10 Last WordsSubscriber-only episodeShadow Prayers Reflections from a Pandemic YearWritten in 2021, Shadow Prayers is a Memoir of a Pastor's final year of ministry, guiding a congregation through the toxic time of pandemic, political division and racial divide. Written copies available for order.https://garyfurr.me/writings/“Through his psalm-like collection of writings, he captures the melancholy and mourning of the year of 2020, while simultaneously holding a lantern for a way forward, for today and years to come.” – Jenny Eaton Dyer, PhD, Vanderbilt University, founder,The 2030 Collaborative
2024-01-2834 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressSHADOW PRAYERS AUDIOBOOK Part 5 PentecostShadow Prayers Reflections from a Pandemic YearWritten in 2021, Shadow Prayers is a Memoir of a Pastor's final year of ministry, guiding a congregation through the toxic time of pandemic, political division and racial divide. Written copies available for order.https://garyfurr.me/writings/“Through his psalm-like collection of writings, he captures the melancholy and mourning of the year of 2020, while simultaneously holding a lantern for a way forward, for today and years to come.” – Jenny Eaton Dyer, PhD, Vanderbilt University, founder,The 2030 Collaborative Support the sho
2024-01-2826 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressEncountering God in the Prayers of Others: The Soul's Desire Support the show
2023-12-2906 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's Progress🔒 Encountering God in the Prayers of Others: The CallSubscriber-only episode
2023-12-2805 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressEncountering God in the Prayers of Others: The Hound of Heaven Support the show
2023-12-2706 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressEncountering God in the Prayers of Others: Compline Support the show
2023-12-2606 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThe Light WithinGod hung the stars brighter than the sun to illuminate the darkness. And sent one life into the world to do the same. If we can comprehend it, understand that life, receive it, we can, said John in his gospel, be the very sons and daughters of God. If not, we’ll just stumble around with our flashlights, trying to find our own pitiful way and cursing the darkness that God would gladly dispel for us. Support the show
2023-12-2514 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's Progress🔒 Encountering God in the Prayers of Others: Thomas MertonSubscriber-only episode
2023-12-2406 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressEncountering God in the Prayers of Others: The Memorial of Blaise Pascal Support the show
2023-12-2305 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressEncountering God in the Prayers of Others: Howard ThurmanDr. Howard Thurman (1899 – April 10, 1981) rose from the segregated south of his childhood to become an author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader. He was Dean of Theology and the chapels at Howard University and Boston University. In 1953 Life magazine) rated Thurman among the twelve most important religious leaders in the United States. He was a deeply spiritual man as well as thinker. He wrote many books, including Jesus and the Disinherited (1949), which deeply influenced one of his students at Boston College, who happened to be the son of one of his friends and classmat...
2023-12-2106 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressEncountering God in the Prayers of Others introBeginning this week, I have additional content available for subscribers only. It only costs three dollars per month to download and access audio books, audio articles, music, and lots more! Unsubscribe anytime you need those three dollars for something else. It kicks off with my chapters from ENCOUNTERING GOD IN THE PRAYERS OF OTHERS. For a sample, I've included here the chapter on Howard Thurman, as well as the introduction by Nancy McLemore. Emkpu! Support the show
2023-12-2102 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressEncountering God in the Prayers of Others: In the Garden Support the show
2023-12-2106 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThe Christmas PigA prize hog named Brad Pitt and, two drunken troublemakers out for a joyride meet karma head-on. A Christmas story quite unlike any other in the mythical town of Mount Nebo,, where progress goes to slow down. Support the show
2023-12-2020 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThe News from Mount NeboWe could use a good story right now. Here's one about a young preacher in a little country church, a long time ago and a long way from here, in a church without much promise and in need of help. It might be just the story you need today. Support the show
2023-10-2718 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressLessons in EmpathyA fourth grade game of tag and a phone call from a desperate teenager provide moments of insight about empathy for another person's suffering. Who knew that life or death could be having in the balance during the Wommen's Missionary tea party? Support the show
2023-09-2917 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressChurch Fight Near Dolly's HouseA young college student has to wait to preach his sermon until the church has a fight. Lessons from a country church a long time ago about how to deal with conflict and how real community happens. Just a stone's throw from where Dolly Parton grew up. Support the show
2023-09-1916 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThe Soul's DesireA 12th century Irish text found its way into a folk tune by a Methodist preacher. Amid the shallowness of our time, the longing for the deep place where the strands of our live seek union, we find "the soul's desire." Support the show
2023-09-1218 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressRemembering 9-11A reflection on that terrible day, now a whole student generation removed from us. Support the show
2023-09-1107 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressBroke Down in Wagon Wheel"So, where are you from? " A weird town name, a wheel from a child's wagon, and a homeless family in a station wagon. Finding a place for you. Support the show
2023-08-0122 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressRestorationA story about healing leads to reflections on loneliness and community. As much as the physical trauma of being sick is the pain of isolation and being cut off from life. Support the show
2023-07-2122 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressLearning to PlayI do an inventory of my childhood toys, and the meaning of play, both for children, and for people who used to be! Support the show
2023-07-0215 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressMemorial DayMemorials matter. Every Memorial Day, I remember a fallen marine's mother and the song we wrote. To remember is a sacred responsibility. This is our price for living on the shoulders of others' suffering. Support the show
2023-05-3016 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressDriver's EdThere's a lot of automation in our world today, but life is not always automatic. A lesson learned in driver's ed back in high school. A 2x4 full of nails and an oncoming car. What will a 16-year-old novice driver do? Support the show
2023-05-0321 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressMiracle On the Via DolorosaOn the Via Dolorosa a frustrated man in a wheelchair sent a tourist home with a miracle story. Or was it? Maundy Thursday sits in that thin place between miracle and magic. Support the show
2023-04-0619 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThe Waiting RoomIn the waiting room, we are all the same...fear stops by in the morning and pops back in when you least expect it...people have truly different ideas of what the phrase, "dress appropriately" means...nothing starts when it is scheduled and why things go on longer than you were told. Support the show
2023-03-2216 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressCheap Trip to IsraelPreachers are like manure. When you spread us out, we can do a lot of good. But when you pile us up all together it can be almost unbearable. On a preachers tour to Israel I found out why. Support the show
2023-03-1122 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressA Pilgrim and a StrangerPilgrim or a tourist? Two different ways of visiting an unfamiliar place or a different way of life. Both have their place. The pilgrim has a different task. Two ways of living a life, two different ways of seeing others. Support the show
2023-03-0221 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThe Estate SaleRummaging through an estate sale provides Gary with surprisingly rich insights into life and death. “How do you reduce a life to a single sentence, especially a sentence that will fit on a marble slab determined by the proceeds from your estate sale?” Support the show
2023-02-2620 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressFinding Jimmy CarterI went by Cousin Hugh Carter's store. I asked him, "Does President Carter ever come around out here in town?" "Why, sure," he said. "He rides his bike around town sometimes. WELL, THERE HE IS NOW!" And there went President Carter, on a bicycle, and right behind him four Secret Service agents on bikes, followed by a van full of Secret Service Agents. Support the show
2023-02-2015 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressMy Family ValentineA new baby, a stolen car, and extravagant generosity made our first February as parents unforgettable.It’s buried treasure, it’s the chance you lose,The lifeline that you’re holding toA mother’s touch, a baby’s handKeeps a daddy coming home again, That’s what it is. Support the show
2023-02-1415 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressCan a Christian Sing Murder Ballads?Now I pondered what my young questioner wanted to know. When is it okay to talk about such things? Then I said, "Come to think of it, the central story of our salvation is a murder story." He said, "I never thought about that before." Support the show
2023-02-1318 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressMary: The Basement TapeThe great-granddaughter of Charles Austin Miles said once that the hymn "was written on a cold, dreary day in a cold, dreary and leaky basement in New Jersey that didn't even have a window in it let alone a view of a garden. From Miles imagination to one of the most beloved gospel hymns of all time, it became a vessel of prayer for me in another basement far from home.Recording "In the Garden" Adapted from Encountering God in the Prayers of Others click to go to Books Support the show
2023-02-0916 min
The Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressDaddy Never SaidNow I look back and see that my life is full of images you gave me: work, family, music, faith. Plenty of good things for life. And i realize what a big, cool shadow you cast over my life in the heat of growing up. Support the show
2023-02-0225 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressWorking Man's Ph.D.A young preacher gets some off-Broadway theological lessons from Elmer, Pappy-in-Law, Dooley, Scotty and Hangy Limb and the rest of the Bridge Crew. It wasn't accredited but if made a permanent impression to supplement the book study.Song: "Working On a Building" by Shades Mountain Air Support the show
2023-01-2920 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressThe Song Remembers...."As we began to sing, something came over him. He got up, shuffled along as though moved by an invisible force. He came and stood next to me and sang every single word. Has somewhere else now." Remembering is a big deal. To be remembered is to continue to be loved. Support the show
2023-01-2420 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressTo Tell the TruthA poetic remembrance from 1963. "Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of people willing to be co-workers with God." Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail. Support the show
2023-01-1616 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressGet Me to the Church On TimeTravel delays, life delays sends me back to a journey to get home and back to get married--during a blizzard. Sometimes you just do what you have to do, right? Support the show
2023-01-1217 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressIn the Bleak MidwinterThere are two kinds of spirituality, one "summery" and one like the winter. In the times of discouragement and struggle, some reflections from a familiar song. Support the show
2023-01-0719 minThe Flatpicking Pilgrim's ProgressWelcome to the Flatpicking Pilgrim's PodcastMeet Gary Furr as he welcome us to The Flatpicking Pilgrim's Podcast! "This will probably be a little bit lighter than a lot of stuff going on outthere these days, but there's enough whackadoodles in Congress and on the internet to saturate that market. Our stories are who we are-- and theykeep reminding us who we are.I'm going to let truth just sort of rise up out of the stories and insights that havefound me. Some of them are unbearably sad and a lot of them are uproariously funny and s...
2023-01-0207 min