FAITH and FRICTION

In a podcast episode, Mac interviews The Rev about “nuggets” from a recent Unity North sermon titled “Empty Out the Inside of Your Head,” encouraging listeners to hear it at unitynorth.org. They discuss spiritual themes using neighborhood metaphors: life is an illusion that can be changed with courage; the mind has unsafe streets with graffiti of fear and doubt that require honest self-inventory, “street sweeping,” and communal healing through service. The Rev emphasizes churches as a safe place to bring one’s humanity, calling vulnerability (“putting your guts on the table”) holy work, and warns against covering “toxic mold” with pretense. Key takeaways include choosing responsibility over pretending, renewing the mind by evicting unwanted thoughts and rent-free beliefs, releasing to experience resurrection, letting go of victim stories that become cages, not giving yesterday authority over today, and “suiting up and showing up” with faith and accountability.

In this Faith and Friction episode, Mack and Rev. Man explain the “hard right edge” of a stock chart—the unknown beyond the last candle—and use it as a metaphor for life, faith, and living in the present moment. They describe markets as driven by human fear and greed, and argue that studying history and trends, whether in investing, relationships, church life, or personal story, reveals patterns that enable course correction. They emphasize stepping back as a dispassionate observer, responding rather than reacting, setting expectations around risk and volatility, and following a plan instead of emotion. They connect resilience, EQ, IQ, and spiritual intelligence to managing stress and uncertainty, rejecting “God will just make it happen” thinking while framing God’s plan as supporting people in working their plan, leading to greater peace and contentment despite not knowing the next “candle.”