F4

Part Two: We pick back up where we left off in Episode One. Today we are going to return to a subject that we explored twenty episodes ago in episode 6, Under Pressure, when we discussed the internal and external pressures that lead to anxiety. It was inspired by author, Steve Cuss. Much of the material that will influence our discussion today was also gleaned from Steve Cuss and can be further explored in his new book, The Expectation Gap: The Tiny Vast Space between Our Beliefs & Experience of God. In his book, he helps us answer the following question, “How to be less annoying and better at managing annoying people”specifically in relation to anxiety management.

⁠Steve Cuss "The Expectation Gap" Book⁠

⁠The Pause App⁠

Today we are going to return to a subject that we explored twenty episodes ago in episode 6, Under Pressure, when we discussed the internal and external pressures that lead to anxiety. It was inspired by author, Steve Cuss. Much of the material that will influence our discussion today was also gleaned from Steve Cuss and can be further explored in his new book, The Expectation Gap: The Tiny Vast Space between Our Beliefs & Experience of God. In his book, he helps us answer the following question, “How to be less annoying and better at managing annoying people” specifically in relation to anxiety management.

Steve Cuss "The Expectation Gap" Book

The Pause App

Welcome to Episode 25 of the F4 podcast!

Several of our podcasts have been centered around or at least touched on the idea of unhurrying our lives or taking time to disconnect from the chaos of the digital/social media world. This seems to be an area that continually comes up for us. We feel the tug to overfill our lives and we definitely see it in the lives of people around us. As we head into the summer months, months where we don’t have some of the regular demands with things like school, we thought it might be good to talk about what it looks like to create some space, some margin in our lives so our souls and our hearts can recover from the fast pace we’ve been running. And it’s ok that this isn’t something that is mastered….maybe we can take A step to creating some space in our lives for some soul rest.

Pause App: https://www.pauseapp.com/

Welcome to Episode 24 Part Two of the F4 podcast. In today's episode, we're diving deep into the ubiquitous presence of cell phones and the challenges they present in our relationships.

It's no secret that cell phones have become an integral part of our daily lives, revolutionizing the way we communicate, work, and connect with others. But with this technological advancement comes a host of inherent problems that can strain even the strongest of relationships.

From dinner dates interrupted by buzzing phones to late-night scrolling sessions that replace intimate conversations, it's clear that our devices often take precedence over the people right in front of us. But why is it so difficult to put down our phones and truly connect with our loved ones?

Resources:

⁠https://launch.practicingtheway.org/signup⁠ Practicing the Way website

⁠https://a.co/d/2puhXeQ⁠ Practicing the Way Book

⁠https://a.co/d/24VhGid⁠ Digital Minimalism Book

⁠https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/⁠ The Social Dilemma website and film

⁠https://a.co/d/53vu1KI⁠ Risk the Real Book

Welcome to Episode 24 Part One of the F4 podcast. In today's episode, we're diving deep into the ubiquitous presence of cell phones and the challenges they present in our relationships.

It's no secret that cell phones have become an integral part of our daily lives, revolutionizing the way we communicate, work, and connect with others. But with this technological advancement comes a host of inherent problems that can strain even the strongest of relationships.

From dinner dates interrupted by buzzing phones to late-night scrolling sessions that replace intimate conversations, it's clear that our devices often take precedence over the people right in front of us. But why is it so difficult to put down our phones and truly connect with our loved ones?

Resources:   https://launch.practicingtheway.org/signup Practicing the Way website

https://a.co/d/2puhXeQ Practicing the Way Book

https://a.co/d/24VhGid Digital Minimalism Book

https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/ The Social Dilemma website and film

https://a.co/d/53vu1KI Risk the Real Book

Join us for Episode 23 of the F4 podcast! In this installment, Vanessa Giddens, a Level 3 CrossFit Coach and one of the F4 hosts, delves into the valuable life lessons she has acquired throughout her coaching journey.

https://maxlucado.christianbook.com/you-are-special-story-for-everyone/max-lucado/9781433522673/pd/522673?event=Kids

www.crossfitaltius.com

www.crossfit.com

If you need rehab and PT check them out!

https://www.kprpt.com/

Today we are going to talk about an issue that seems to come up over and over again with each of us, our family, our friends, and almost everyone we come in contact with in some capacity. We are taking about excuses. You know the “I don’t have time to do X.” “I don’t have the money to do X” “I wish I could do what you do but..” We are excited to process through this. We think if we could free ourselves from excuses, we tell ourselves throughout our life, we could become the person we really want to be.

Today we are going to talk about some of the highlights from a book that Brooke shared with me a couple of years ago. The content of this book smacked me in the face in all the best ways and is called, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. The first words of this book are from the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 11 verses 28-30 when Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will findrestfor your souls. For my yoke iseasyand my burden islight.”Every time I read these words, I feel a sense of comfort and find myself breathing more deeply. - Brian Marston F4 Host

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World

https://a.co/d/0idfB9C

This month we did something we don't do very often, we interviewed one person. Ryan was a great guest and we think this is going to impact many of you in such a positive way. Why Ryan? Well, Brian has known Ryan for more than 17 years and he just celebrated his 33rd birthday! We invited Ryan to be our guest because he is a good friend and has a powerful story that we know will be encouraging to many of you. For this episode we asked him to share some of his story and then talk about a subject that we have been hearing a lot about over the last few years: mental health. This was so fun to do and we look forward to feedback from you if you find it helpful in any way at all. Thanks again for being a great guest, Ryan!

Welcome to Episode 19 of the F4 podcast! Thank you so much for listening to and watching our podcast! We need to take a moment to say “sorry”. I know we had some technical audio difficulties on our last episode and again we apologize for that. We really felt like it was good enough to post anyway so if you haven’t seen or heard it yet, please go back and check it out.

If you would follow us on Instagram and like and share the podcast, we would greatly appreciate it. We are on multiple platforms including Apple, Spotify, Google, Pocket, Radio Public, Breaker, Anchor, & YouTube!

If you would like to be a sponsor of the show you can send us a message on Instagram, Facebook or via email at ⁠f4ncpodcast@gmail.com⁠

F4 represents Faith, Family, Friends, and Fitness. While we have some exciting new fitness related podcasts planned and coming shortly, we have been a little more family focused on the last couple of podcasts and this one is going to continue that as well. I think we have all been surprised by things happening around us as well as in us, as it relates to where we see needs with our community, world, and the family. We hope this episode helps you relate in a way that impacts your marriage, family and children’s lives as well as your community’s future.

Buckle up for an emotional rollercoaster of an episode. We have posted links below to Dr. Jim Burns book, Doing Life With Your Adult Children. We hope this helps you work through this process!

Doing Life with Your Adult Children: Keep Your Mouth Shut and the Welcome Mat Out: ⁠https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Life-Your-Adult-Children/dp/0310353777/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1679262244&sr=8-1⁠

Welcome to Episode 18: “Something to Talk About” (aka the ding-dong episode)

APOLOGY UP FRONT! We had a catastrophic fatal loss of the audio file while in editing. This means the audio quality is not what you are used to hearing. Normally we wouldn’t post this because of that, but we liked this episode enough to post anyway. Our apologies and we promise it won’t happen again!

Last time, we dedicated our time to discussing what makes a marriage great. I thought we had excellent conversation around this idea. One of the things we mentioned that we find helpful to keep connection in marriage is having a regular date night. Sometimes knowing what to do or what to talk about can be a challenge, especially when you don’t want to always talk about kids or work. So, a couple of weeks ago, Charles and Vanessa stumbled upon these cards on a date night, and it led to some great conversation!

So, we ordered these to always have and today, we are going to just dig into these questions. This will be completely different from previous podcasts because we are literally drawing questions from a box and answering whatever we get. This hopefully gives you some inspiration on questions you can ask those who mean the most to you.

Harvard Study:

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/

Order Table Topics:

https://tabletopics.com/

Welcome to Episode 17 of the F4 podcast!

• We appreciate you taking the time to listen and watch our podcast! If you could follow us on Instagram and like and share the podcast, we would greatly appreciate it! We are on multiple platforms including Apple, Spotify, Google, Pocket, Radio Public, Breaker, Anchor, & YouTube!

• If you would like to be a sponsor of the show you can send us a message on Instagram, Facebook or via email at f4ncpodcast@gmail.com

• This episode is a byproduct of something that Brian has been processing often…marriage. Brian has a heart for reaching others to help them have a better connection with Jesus, their family, and the community. He has been married to Brooke for 24 years next month, and the Holy Spirit has been convicting him to love Brooke better but also to help others do the same with their spouses. Charles and Vanessa have been married for 23 years and are also looking to be connected more to each other, God, and the community and want to help others do the same.

SOME REFERENCES FORM THE EPISODE:

https://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/ten-secrets-to-a-successful-marriage/

https://www.prepare-enrich.com/blog/stacking-your-way-to-a-stronger-marriage/

Creating an Intimate Marriageby Dr. Jim Burns

https://www.amazon.com/dp/076420405X?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_sem_Q4A5TS1A0ZZ8JTZC2DA2

Assertiveness & Active Listening

file:///Users/charlesgiddens/Desktop/Assertiveness & Active Listening.jpg

I think we would all agree that asking people about their favorite things is a great way to get to know them and what makes them tick. Taking people’s favorites into account is also often a great way to keep meetings and gatherings and vacations and such running smoothly. After all, deeming something as a “favorite” is just another way of identifying your personal preferences. Hang with us this month to see if this is indeed the way to process favorites in your life!

Thank you for taking the time to listen to the F4 podcast today! Please follow us on social media, like and share the podcast if you think this can be helpful and/or entertaining to other people. We would love your feedback, to know what is helpful to you and how we can connect better. Thanks again for listening and we will look forward to being with you soon again here on the F4 podcast!

Are you an adult? Do you act like an adult? Do you talk like an adult? Or do you act and function at a lower age emotionally than what you are? 

The idea of “cancelling” someone (or at least walking away from someone) that you feel has wronged you in some way has become more and more prevalent in our culture over the course of our lifetime. You see this with people all the time now “cancelling” celebrities, artists, authors, pastors, churches, local businesses, friends, family, etc. We are going to cover that today, but we are also going to focus on the individual cancelling. Like walking away from a friend because they hurt you somehow or they share a different belief system than you. This one may get hard and some of you might cancel us based on what we say today. I sure hope not! 

Thank you for taking the time to engage with us on the F4 podcast! Please follow us on social media, like and share the podcast if you think this can be helpful and/or entertaining to other people. We would love your specific feedback so we can grow and continue providing content that is helpful to you. Thanks again for listening and we look forward to being with you soon again here on the F4 podcast!

In this episode of the F4 Podcast we discuss our recent experiences during the 2022 CrossFit Open and what it was like to work toward the common goal of getting one of our own to the next level of the competition. This episode touches on all our “F”s: Faith, Family, Friends, and Fitness!

We’ve talked about goals and habits before. We’ve also talked about growth. This time of year, people generally begin thinking about these sorts of things. “New year, new you” and all. In this episode we tackle what it means to have a word or phrase for the year. We look forward to your feedback! You can email us at f4ncpodcast@gmail.com or send us a DM on social platforms.

Today we are going to be talking about talent versus skill. In previous episodes we’ve discussed the concepts of growth and setting goals and how things like mindset factor into both of those things. But today we want to strip the topic down and address a basic question: is it talent or is it skill? When we work towards growth, are we developing skill or honing raw talent?

Here are the links to books and videos discussed during the show:

The Berenstain Bears: The Talent Show

Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

The Road Back To You by Ian Morgan Cron

Thank you for taking the time to listen to the F4 podcast today! Please follow us on social media, like and share the podcast if you think this can be helpful and/or entertaining to other people. We would love your feedback, to know what is helpful to you and how we can connect better. Send us an email at: F4 Feedback Email

According to the Fuller Youth Institute, over half of all high school seniors walk away from their faith in college. That is a staggering and scary number. As parents and Christians, this is one of the biggest problems that we see with our kids and in society as a whole right now.

In this episode we tackle how to help navigate this time with your kids. Matt Marston is our special guest this month, here to help unpack all the questions we wanted to know the answers to.

Thank you for taking the time to engage the F4 podcast today! Please follow us on social media, like and share the podcast if you think this can be helpful and/or entertaining to other people. We would love your specific feedback so we can get better in providing content that is helpful to you. Send us an email at f4ncpodcast@gmail.com or a DM on any social platform. Thanks again for listening and we will look forward to being with you soon again here on the F4 podcast!

Here are some resources to further help you with this topic:

Parenting Beyond Your Capacity

Sticky Faith

Are My Kids On Track

Parent Cue

Connection Valley Church

In this episode, we discuss a pursuit that gets in the way growth for all of us. It isn’t an inherently wrong pursuit, but everyone struggles with it and it is a big hinderance to growth. It's the pursuit of C-O-M-F-O-R-T.   

Thank you for taking the time to engage the F4 podcast today! Please follow us on social media, like and share the podcast if you think this can be helpful and/or entertaining to other people. We would love your specific feedback so we can get better in providing content that is helpful to you. Send us an email at f4ncpodcast@gmail.com

We have been hearing (and experiencing) a great deal in regards to mental and emotional health these days. The events of 2020 seem to have highlighted some issues that have been around for quite some time, we had just come up with some pretty good ways of avoiding them. When it comes to our kids, the issues related to emotional health are growing. One of the best things we can do to increase our emotional health is to identify and talk about what we are feeling. And I think we would do well to help our kids do the same.

Click for the link to the Emotions Wheel….

https://theparentcue.org/resources/feelings-wheel/

Click to purchase the Feelings Chart….

https://www.raisingboysandgirls.com/buy/feelings-chart-digital-copy

To purchase Are My Kids on Track …..

https://www.amazon.com/Are-Kids-Track-Emotional-Milestones/dp/076421912X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=26JEOO7O5H4HS&dchild=1&keywords=are+my+kids+on+track&qid=1629673891&sprefix=are+my+%2Caps%2C159&sr=8-1

Thank you for taking the time to listen to the F4 podcast today! Please follow us on social media, like and share the podcast if you think this can be helpful and/or entertaining to other people. We would love your feedback--to know what is helpful to you and how we can connect better. Thanks again for listening and we look forward to being with you again soon here on the F4 podcast!

Today we're talking about setting goals. We understand the positive power of setting goals but so many of us don't really know how to set goals. 

We love feedback! Please feel free to send some to us on any social platforms or at f4ncpodcast@gmail.com

This month we tackle the super funny but also super serious topic of pet peeves. I know what you are thinking: that has the potential to cause some problems with the four of us! There is also the potential for plenty of laughs for you as you listen to how we make each other frustrated. We hope you enjoy this episode and as always we would love to get feedback from you. How can we better connect and help you as a listener?

Here are some links referenced in the show...

Max Lucado You Are Special

https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Special-Lucados-Wemmicks/dp/0891079319/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Max Lucado Pet Peeve Blog

https://www.faithgateway.com/dont-pet-the-peeves/#.YNi8ghNKjFo

Chris Kolmar 60 Pet Peeves

https://www.zippia.com/advice/pet-peeves-list/

Dude Perfect Pet Peeves Stereotypes song

https://youtu.be/_eIH4F-24M4

We're excited to tackle the topic of anxiety in this episode because we are constantly talking with people who struggle with managing their anxiety in all aspects of life. We will not be able to cover every aspect of anxiety today, but we definitely want to talk about this because our mental health is so important. We have titled this podcast “Under Pressure” because we all feel internal and external pressures that lead to anxiety. We also want to say a special thank you to Steve Cuss. He is an author whose book Brian recently read, Managing Leadership Anxiety, that is packed full of stories and tools on how to manage anxiety in healthy ways.

Hang tight and buckle up. This one may hit close to home! 

SAMHSA National Helpline 1-800-622-HELP (4357)

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Crisis Text Line Text HOME to 741741

We’re excited to tackle the concept of growth as a “grown-up” in this episode. Peter Pan has always been one of Vanessa’s favorite characters. Admittedly, she always finds it sad when Wendy grows up without him. The good news is that while Peter Pan is, in fact, a fairy tale (complete with Tinkerbell), so is the concept of being a “grown-up”! Today we cover the idea that you’re never fully grown and “grown-ups” don’t exist. We focus on personal development and the importance of relationships in personal growth.

Here are the links to the books we discussed in this episode....

A Grace Disguised by Jerry Sittser

https://www.google.com/search?kgmid=/g/1ydw3hczx&hl=en-US&q=A+Grace+Disguised:+How+the+Soul+Grows+Through+Loss&kgs=59532fc23bbfa70e&shndl=0&source=sh/x/kp/osrp&entrypoint=sh/x/kp/osrp

Becoming Better Gownups by Brad Montague

https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Better-Grownups-Rediscovering-Remembering/dp/0525537848/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=becoming+better+grownups+brad+montague&qid=1619554752&s=books&sprefix=brad+montague&sr=1-3

Dare to Lead by Brene Brown

https://www.amazon.com/Dare-Lead-Brave-Conversations-Hearts/dp/0399592520/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia-wc-rsf-lq2a1_0?cv_ct_cx=dare+to+lead&dchild=1&keywords=dare+to+lead&pd_rd_i=0399592520&pd_rd_r=e7399ce1-3034-4703-84a6-fe6b7a6b0e57&pd_rd_w=GhLh9&pd_rd_wg=biTOg&pf_rd_p=5a08de46-cc81-4b8f-b52d-be42c1429ca8&pf_rd_r=DAYAK795V3QWKVQH9NB8&psc=1&qid=1619554807&sprefix=dare+to&sr=1-1-58992a4d-ca33-47e1-bb07-1c05af86dd33

Mindset by Carol S. Dweck Ph.D.

https://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Carol-S-Dweck/dp/0345472322/ref=sr_1_1?crid=38R9JW34WUEPR&dchild=1&keywords=mindset+carol+s.+dweck&qid=1619556725&sprefix=mindset%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-1

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ruthless+elimination+of+hurry+book&i=stripbooks&crid=1D26RRTXEAPI6&sprefix=ruthless+%2Cstripbooks%2C168&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_9

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

https://www.amazon.com/Kite-Runner-Khaled-Hosseini/dp/159463193X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=19V7WBN3JIY30&dchild=1&keywords=the+kite+runner&qid=1619561367&s=books&sprefix=The+Kite+%2Cstripbooks%2C160&sr=1-1

In this episode, Brooke, Brian, Vanessa, and Charles tackle friendships. There are all sorts of TV shows, songs, books, and movies developed around the idea friendship, but we think a lot of times people look around and think, "Why don’t I have friends like that?" Or, "I used to have friends, where did they go? What’s wrong with me?" Or even, "I hang out with these people, but I don’t even like them." That’s the backdrop of what we are going to try to dig into today. We hope you find this episode helpful. 

We would love to hear your feedback on this or any of our episodes. You can send us an email or leave feedback on the site where you listen. If you would like to become a sponsor please send us an email at f4ncpodcast@gmail.com and thanks for listening!

“What makes a great marriage?” Why are we tackling this question? One reason is this, according toourworldindata.org,the marriage rate has been declining in America since 1972. Fewer and fewer people see the value of marriage and how it can be great.We certainly don’t have this all figured out, but we are committed to making our marriages the best they can be. Our hope for today is that we can add value to you, if you are married or are thinking about marriage, as we share our stories and cover a wide range of marital challenges.

Episode 2: "Why We Workout"

This month Brian, Brooke, Vanessa and Charles tackle the why behind our workouts. This episode is full of nuggets of wisdom and hopefully some tips to get you going in the area of exercise. Do you struggle to stay consistent? Do you have a community that can push and pull you along? What is your motivating factor for working out? How does this tie into your walk with Jesus? Is working out punishment? All of this and more is covered in this episode. We would love for you to listen and give us your feedback. You can find us on Instagram or you can send us an email at f4ncpodcast@gmail.com. We hope this helps you lead a fuller life inside and outside the gym!

*Warning: if you are triggered by discussion of weight or anything that goes along with it, listen at your own risk. In addition, no one on this podcast is a doctor and if you decide to start an exercise program check with your doctor first to make sure you are at a point where you can safely do so.

Thanks for checking out F4! This podcast is hosted by Brian, Brooke, Vanessa and Charles. Each month they take a deep dive into all things faith, family, friends and fitness. Do you want to have a better relationship with God, family, friends or yourself? If you answered yes to any of these then this podcast is for you!