Ep. 367: The Story You Choose
May 11 • 27:00
Ep. 367: The Story You Choose
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Ep. 367: The Story You Choose

May 11, 2024 • 27:00 • Jay Holland

**Be sure to check out our new discussion guide to help you make the most out of this episode. [Go to Discussion Guide]

What do you think about when you think about God? Is He distant, uncaring, weak or unjust? Or is He good, near, powerful, just, and loving? Every person has a story they tell themselves about God, and we continually feed this story. 

Today Jay shares how we have a choice in what we choose to feed in our story about God. He then shares how those choices tend to have control over us in ways that we dont expect. The story you tell yourself about God will aect how you handle temptation, trials, and tragedies. Will sin become a coping mechanism or an evil to avoid? It all depends on the story you are feeding yourself about God.

This principle also holds true in the story we tell ourselves about other people. You can make or break relationships based on the internal story you create and then seek to prove through your interactions. If you are stuck in a bad story, listen and hear how Jay shares two powerful antidotes that can change your story. 

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With Jay Holland
Let's Parent on Purpose is a weekly podcast designed to strengthen your marriage, parenting, and personal relationship with Jesus. Host Jay Holland provides examples from God's word, real life success and failure stories, and lots of humility from his 20+ years of student ministry, parenting, foster parenting, and counseling others. Each episode you'll receive an insight or interview that will help you thrive, not just survive your parenting years. You can find more from Jay at LetsParentOnPurpose.com or follow him on Facebook and Instagram.
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Dec 7 • 42:00
Ep. 401: The Case for Christmas with Lee Strobel →

***Pick up a copy of Jays new Journal: Renewed: The 365-Day Christian Gratitude Journal

https://amzn.to/3MLWavl

In this episode of Lets Parent On Purpose, Jay Holland sits down with award-winning journalist and bestselling author Lee Strobel to explore the historical, theological, and personal significance of the Christmas story. Together they unpack the evidence for the birth of Jesus, the reliability of the Gospel accounts, misconceptions about the Nativity, and why the Incarnation still changes lives today.

Whether you're a long-time believer, a seeker exploring Christianity, or a parent looking to equip your teens with confidence in their faith, this conversation offers clear, compelling reasons to trust the Christmas story as true historynot just a seasonal tradition.

Key Topics Covered

The Investigative Journalist Who Tried to Disprove Christianity

Lee shares how his journey from atheism to faith began as an attempt to rescue his wife from what he believed was a cult. His two-year investigation into the evidence for Jesus resurrection led him to the unexpected conclusion that Christianity is true.

Why the Nativity Story Is Historically Reliable

Lee walks through:

  • Why Lukes and Matthews accounts are independent and trustworthy
  • Why different Gospel perspectives strengthennot weakenthe historical case
  • How early Christian writings outside the Gospels affirm the virgin birth
  • How ancient biography differs from modern biography but remains reliable

What No Room in the Inn Actually Means

Lee reveals:

  • The Greek word kataluma likely means guest room, not hotel
  • The Holy Family almost certainly stayed with relatives
  • Jesus was probably born in the family living space of a first-century home, not a wooden stable
  • Why nativity sets with wooden barns and angry innkeepers are historically inaccurate

Why the Virgin Birth Matters theologically

Lee explains why the virgin birth is essential for:

  • Jesus being fully God and fully man
  • Jesus being born without inherited sin
  • Fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (Isaiah 7:14)
  • Preserving core Christian doctrines

Pagan Myth Claims Debunked

Lee dismantles the popular internet claim that Christianity borrowed the virgin birth or resurrection from pagan myths such as Mithras, Dionysus, or Zoroaster. Each is exposed as historically inaccurate or chronologically impossible.

How Investigating Christmas Strengthens Worship

Lee shares how studying the incarnation moved him deeply, reminding him that Christianity is not a legendit's a true story about God entering our world to save us.

God Is Moving Today

Lee and Jay reflect on the remarkable openness to the gospel theyre seeing nationwidefrom churches to college campuses to everyday encounters.

Lets Parent on Purpose is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcasting Network. For more information, visit www.ChristianParenting.org

About Lee Strobel

Lee Strobel is a former award-winning legal editor for the Chicago Tribune and a New York Times bestselling author of more than forty books, including The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, The Case for a Creator, The Case for Miracles, and his newest seasonal release, The Case for Christmas.

Originally an atheist, Lee spent two years investigating the evidence for Christianity as a journalist. His search led him to faith in Christ and ultimately into ministry, where he continues to write, speak, teach apologetics, and help people explore the evidence for God.

Lee currently serves as founding director of the Lee Strobel Center for Evangelism and Applied Apologetics at Colorado Christian University. His books have sold millions of copies and inspired films, documentaries, and student editions that help the next generation explore faith with confidence.

Resources & Links:

Nov 23 • 50:36
Ep. 400: The Power of a Multigenerational Meal with Jeremy Pryor →

In this episode, Jay sits down with Jeremy Pryor to explore what it looks like to build a thriving multi-generational Christian family in a culture that often prioritizes independence over connection. Jeremy shares the story behind his familys four-generation household, the biblical foundations for treating family as a multi-generational team, and how countercultural habitslike a weekly multi-generational mealcan deepen identity, strengthen relationships, and create long-term family discipleship. Together, they unpack the dangers of hyper-individualism, the impact of technology on kids, and the surprising joy found in reclaiming ancient rhythms such as Sabbath-style meals. Jeremy also offers practical steps for parents who want to introduce meaningful, sustainable traditions that anchor their children in faith, family identity, and gospel-centered community.

Jeremy Pryor is a family identity expert and author of the book Family Revision. His passion is helping families discover and live out their multigenerational mission to further the Kingdom of God.

Key Takeaways

  • Why modern Western culture struggles with hyper-individualismand how it harms families.
  • The biblical idea of a multi-generational family team and how it differs from the fragile nuclear model.
  • Jeremys real-life example of four generations living, working, and discipling together.
  • How intentional weekly rhythmsespecially a multi-generational family mealcan transform family unity and identity.
  • Practical steps for starting meaningful family traditions that are enjoyable, sustainable, and spiritually rich.
  • Why children thrive when they grow up with strong family identity, shared stories, and rootedness.
  • How reclaiming ancient practices like blessings, Sabbath-style meals, and storytelling helps parents disciple their kids.

Lets Parent on Purpose is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcasting Network. For more information, visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Resources & Links:

Nov 9 • 57:17
Ep. 399: The Body Teaches the Soul with Justin Whitmel Early →

In this conversation, attorney and author Justin Whitmel Earley unpacks how embodied habits shape our spiritual lifewhat he calls habits as liturgies. Drawing on neuroscience and Scripture (Genesis 2:7; Romans 5; Ephesians 2; Psalm 23), Justin explains why the body often leads the heart, how practices like box breathing + breath prayers, sleep and Sabbath, and fasting and feasting can realign our loves, and how parents can build grace-based rhythms that form their homes. Jay shares his own story of grief and healing to show how God uses humble, repeated practicesfriendship, worship, exercise, daily prayerto restore joy. If youve wrestled with anxiety, distraction, or unhealthy relationships with food/tech, this episode gives practical, theologically grounded steps to start small and stay faithful.

Justin Whitmel Earley is a writer, speaker, and lawyer. He is the author of The Common Rule, Habits of the Household, and Made for People, though he spends most days running his business law practice. Through his writing and speaking, Justin empowers Gods people to thrive through life-giving habits that form them in the love of God and neighbor. He continually explores both how physical habits are more spiritual than we think and how spiritual habits are more physical than we think. He lives with his wife and four boys in Richmond, Virginia, spends a lot of time around fires and porches with friends, and is a part-owner of a local gym. You can follow him online at justinwhitmelearley.com.

Key Takeaways

  • Habits are liturgies. What we do repeatedly (often unconsciously) forms our loves; your identity tends to follow your practices, not just your ideas.
  • Embodiment matters. God made, saved, and will resurrect us in bodies. Spiritual formation happens through the body, not around it.
  • Top-down meets bottom-up. Pair truth in the mind with training in the bodye.g., Scripture + breath, theology + sleep rhythms, confession + tech limits.
  • Breathing as prayer. Use box breathing to calm the nervous system and pair it with breath prayers (e.g., inhale: The Lord is my shepherd; exhale: I shall not want).
  • Sleep & Sabbath are starting points. Begin the week (and each day) from rest, not for restwork from Gods finished work.
  • Food as formation. Redeem eating with the twin practices of fasting (dependence) and feasting (delight); both counter indulgence and shame.
  • Fight habit with habit. You usually cant think your way out of what you practiced your way into; stack small, embodied practices.
  • Parenting is daily formation. The household is a monastery where we practice loving God and neighborbedtime blessings, screen rules, mealtime conversations, and pause-prayers change the parent, not just the child.

Conversation Highlights

  • Why habits as liturgies reframes everyday routines as worship.
  • Jays testimony of grief, trauma, and how embodied rhythms restored joy.
  • Breathing as the intersection of theology, psychology, and physiology.
  • The Jewish day begins at sundown: a paradigm for starting with rest.
  • How ultra-processed foods hijack dopamine and how fasting/feasting heal.
  • You cant think your way out of what you didnt think your way into.

Reflection / Small-Group Questions

1. Where do your current habits reveal what you actually love?

2. Which embodied practice (breath prayer, sleep/Sabbath, fasting/feasting, exercise) do you sense God inviting you to try first? Why?

3. How could you redesign one household moment (bedtime, mealtime, screens, discipline) to make it a mini-liturgy?

4. In a season of anxiety or grief, which small, repeatable habit most reliably pulls you back to God?

Resources & Links:

  • Justins Website - https://www.justinwhitmelearley.com

Lets Parent on Purpose is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcasting Network. For more information, visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Oct 26 • 46:13
Ep. 398: Ages and Stages with Rita Diapoules →

In this conversation, Jay Holland and Rita Diapoules discuss the framework of children's ministry, focusing on the 'Ages and Stages' concept that helps parents understand how to guide their children spiritually as they grow. They emphasize the importance of habit stacking in daily routines to reinforce biblical truths, the significance of teaching biblical concepts appropriate to each age group, and the necessity of creating high-value touch points for families. Rita shares practical tips for parents to integrate spiritual discussions into their daily lives and the importance of partnering with the church for the spiritual growth of children.

Takeaways

  • Children's ministry should focus on long-term spiritual growth.
  • The 'Ages and Stages' framework helps parents guide their children.
  • Habit stacking can integrate spiritual teachings into daily routines.
  • Parents are the primary disciplers of their children.
  • Regular spiritual conversations are crucial for faith retention.
  • Teaching should be age-appropriate and build on previous knowledge.
  • Creating a community helps parents feel supported in their roles.
  • Parents should actively engage with their church's children's ministry.
  • Simple reminders can help reinforce biblical truths at home.
  • Prayer and Bible reading should be prioritized in family life.

Lets Parent on Purpose is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcasting Network.

For more information, visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Resources & Links:

Oct 6 • 56:54
Ep. 397: Beyond Evolution with Sy Garte →

In this conversation, Dr. Sy Garte shares his remarkable journey from atheism to Christianity, exploring the intersection of faith and science. He discusses his personal experiences, the complexities of evolution, and the importance of understanding inheritance in biological processes. Dr. Garte emphasizes that science and faith are not mutually exclusive, advocating for a perspective that sees scientific discovery as a way to appreciate God's creation. He also provides insights for parents on how to discuss science with their children in a way that celebrates discovery while affirming their faith.

Takeaways

  • Dr. Garte's journey from atheism to Christianity was influenced by both intellectual and spiritual experiences.
  • He emphasizes the importance of spirituality in human existence.
  • The concept of inheritance is foundational to understanding evolution.
  • Evolution does not contradict the biblical account of creation.
  • Why Dr. Garte prefers the word divine design over intelligent design.
  • Recent scientific discoveries suggest that even single-celled organisms exhibit agency and purpose.
  • Science and faith can coexist and complement each other.
  • Parents can equip their children to understand science as a celebration of God's creation.
  • The history of science is deeply intertwined with Christian thought.
  • Truth is unchanging, and God created everything for His pleasure.

About Sy Garte

Sy Garte, PhD in biochemistry, is the author of Beyond Evolution: How New Discoveries in the Science of Life Point to God (Tyndale, August 2025) as well as the award-winning book The Works of His Hands: A Scientists Journey from Atheism to Faith (Kregel, 2019); and Science and Faith in Harmony: Contemplations on a Distilled Doxology (Kregel, 2024); and He has been a professor at New York University, the University of Pittsburgh and is currently Visiting Professor at Rutgers University. He has held leadership positions at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Uniformed Services University. Sy has published over two hundred peer-reviewed scientific papers and five books, as well as articles on science and faith. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the American Scientific Affiliations (ASA) quarterly magazine God and Nature. He is a fellow of the ASA, and Vice President of the Washington DC Metro chapter. He served as lay leader at his United Methodist Church. Sy was raised in an atheist, Marxist family, and was baptized 13 years ago. 

Lets Parent on Purpose is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcasting Network. For more information, visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Resources & Links:

About the Host

Jay Holland

Jay Holland is a follower of Jesus, a husband to Emily, and the biological and adoptive father of four children. For more than two decades Jay has served as a pastor in family and student ministries, and has walked through multiple special needs challenges within his own family.

Jay’s personal and pastoral experiences led him to launch the weekly Let’s Parent on Purpose podcast to equip and empower moms and dads to build thriving families. He serves at Covenant Fellowship Baptist Church in Stuart, Florida and is also on the board of Hopegivers, a ministry that cares for children and churches in India.

More from Jay →