What Life’s Story are You Writing?
If your life were a story, what would that story be about? Nothing like a deep question to start us off, right? What got me thinking about this is a couple of things. As I record this episode of 99,…
How to Care for Your Soul
Do you have one of those people in your life who will sit you down when you need it? I didn’t think I did until one day, he sat me down and said, “Andy, in Spanish, we have this saying…
The One Thing to Remember when Life Gets Tough
Think of a time you felt aware of your good fortune – or of being given a gift. I don’t mean aware, like “oh, someone just handed me this gift and so I’m aware of it.” I mean the kind…
Wake Up to the Abundance All Around You!
The bounty of the harvest can be seen at the bottom of the well. This is an adage I found in a Sufi book I consult often called, “Physicians of the Heart.” This week we’re exploring bounty or abundance of…
Notes from the Field: Elation and Disappointment
I keep making these recordings as I leave the hospital to capture what I’ve experienced. While I cannot share any identifying details to protect patient confidentiality, it feels important to remember these experiences. Today, I realize that I have a…
Rediscovering God through Your Desire
In Arabic there is this word, Ya Wadud, which translates as Divine love. To me, this kind of love is the most powerful, least disguised, and even a little scary. The kind of love this is talking about includes sexual…
How to Never Run Out of Love
I want YOU to want ME. That’s a great song by the band Cheap Trick. It’s also the source of so much misery I can hardly believe it. Those words may be the source of anything that’s wrong with us…
Some Advice from Job about your Suffering
This week’s message is just for you if you’ve ever wondered why bad things happen to good people. It’s inspired by the Arabic Ya-Adl, meaning something like just mercy, but in a meta sense that also is about balance, and…
The Antidote to Your Inner Critic
This episode of 99 is bright and happy. Are you ready? You’re not smart enough. If you’d only try harder you’d get ahead. Why did you do such a stupid thing? I told you that being a teacher was a…
Ashes, Dust, Tears, and Laughter
This is a short update after a really intense week. I have been serving as a chaplain at a local hospital, and the experience has been so intense, I just had to share what it’s like. (Don’t worry, it isn’t…
