Heart of a Friend
The Heart of a Friend podcast was born out of a desire to share some of the most important things learned from a lifetime of experience. It is hosted by Andy Wiegand. Andy retired in 2017 after 40 years of pastoral ministry. He and his wife now reside in Columbus, Ohio. They have raised six children and are now very happy to be grandparents. Andy grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and received his education at Harvard University (B.A. ’73) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div. ’78). In his retirement Andy devotes time to charitable work, visits with friends and family, exercises and continues to do a lot of reading and thinking about life.
Episodes
Highlights: How to Cope with a Life That’s Too Short
Psalm 90 (Part 1) : Finding God in the Psalms
Two responses to the brevity of life:
Resignation: Learn to accept the brutal reality of a life that’s too short. Admit defeat.
Resistance - Affirm that there IS something wrong with the way things are. Death is a tyrant. An enemy to be defeated.
Our hope (is) finally to emerge from the tyranny (of time), the poverty of time, to ride it no...
Highlights: The Pathway to Paradise - Psalm 16
Finding God in the Psalms (Episode 54)
The most unhappy people in the world are not those who have nothing, but those who have everything and have learned that it doesn’t make any difference.
Paradise is an ever-receding horizon.
Paradise is not a place, it’s a Person.
Every vision of “the life we’ve always wanted” that does not have God at the center is a mirage.
What will the Age to Come be...
Highlights - Episode 53
Fulfill Your Purpose!
Finding God in the Psalms
First - Start with Humility
Second - Connect with the Coach
To understand anthropology begin with theology. Discovering the purpose of life begins and ends with God.
When God made us in his image, it means we were created to speak and act on his behalf…on behalf of the King, as if we were him. It’s our job description! It’s to be ambassadors of the King of kings in e...
Highlights - Episode 52 | Antidote to Fear
The answer for our fears is not a what, but a who.
First: Remember, God is BIGGER than our problem.
Second: Pursue your friendship with God BEFORE you face a crisis.
Third: Pray earnestly.
Fourth: Take Action.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the ...
Highlights
Live No Lies, by John Mark Comer
Deceptive ideas play to disordered desires that are normalized in a sinful society.
The Devil The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. Disinformation is at the root of almost every single problem we face in our society and our souls Soak your mind and imagination in Jesus’ truths before you are assaulted with the devi...
Highlights: How NOT to Read the Bible (Episode 50)
The road to atheism is littered with Bibles that have been read cover to cover.
To most Christians, the Bible is like a software license. Nobody actually reads it. They just scroll to the bottom and click “I agree.”
Never Read a Bible
Verse By lifting verses out of context, they can easily be misunderstood. The story-line of the Bible must be...
What’s On My Bookshelf?
A Review: Plagues Upon the Earth, by Kyle Harper - The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse | Part 3 - Highlights
Coronaviruses and influenza viruses are the ones that we are currently worried about. H5N1 (a bird flu)...if it ever gets airborne...it’s got a 60% death rate. (Dr. Larry Brilliant, Harvard Magazine)
It is the advance of scientific knowledge, actualized by public policy and private behavior, th...
What’s On My Bookshelf?
A Review: Plagues Upon the Earth, by Kyle Harper
The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse | Part 2
Highlights
We still have much to learn from the experience of those who lived and died before us. It is urgent that we do so. The long history of disease counsels us to expect the unexpected. The worst threat may be the one we cannot see coming.
Bubonic Plague (Black Death)
Three stages in history - ...
What’s On My Bookshelf?
Part 1 | A Review: Plagues Upon the Earth, by Kyle Harper
The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse Highlights
Up to around 1700 life on earth was short and full of sorrow. Life expectancy was below 30 years. Most people died of infectious disease...around 1900 a great threshold was crossed for the the first time in the history of our species: non-infectious causes of death accounted for a greater portio...
What’s On My Bookshelf | Eight Ways to Make This Your Best Year Ever
4000 Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman
We’ve been granted the mental capacities to make almost infinitely ambitious plans yet practically no time at all to put them into action...Stop trying so hard...It’s ok to give up on what’s impossible in the first place.
One: Accept the limitations of a life-span that’s way too short.
The key to begin resolving this problem is to w...
Highlights
Ears: The Soft Power of Listening - Part 8 (Episode 45) Six Reasons We Don’t Listen and What to Do About It
Six reasons most of us don’t listen well:
1. We’ve never been taught how.
We are encouraged to listen to our hearts, and listen to our gut, but rarely are we encouraged to listen carefully and with intent to other people. ( Kate Murphy, You’re Not Listening)
Listening well is not an ability we are born with. I...
Highlights
Ears: The Soft Power of Listening - Part 7 (Episode 44) Miracle Grow for Relationships
Marriage
The decision to get married is weighted heavily toward what we see...is this person physically attractive to me? But the decision to stay married is weighted more toward what we hear...do I have satisfying communication with my spouse?
Thirty-six Questions that Lead to Love, (NYT January 9, 2015)
Communication Exercis...
HIghlights - Ears (Part 6, Episode 43) Persuasion Starts Here
People don’t care what we know until they know that we care.”
To listen well is the first step in caring. Persuasion begins with listening well.
Four scenarios:
1. When someone is angry
2. When you are trying to make a sale
I discovered early on that people don’t buy from me because they understand what I’m selling. T...
Ears: The Soft Power of Listening - Part 5 (Episode 42) Help! I’m Hurting!
Highlights
Be kind to everyone you meet because everyone you meet is fighting a battle.
When it comes to helping the hurting...this is almost always true of our words. Less is more.
Job’s comforters did everything right for the first seven days, and so do we when we do the same three things they did.
First, show up. (90% of success is just showing ...
Ears: The Soft Power of Listening - Part 4 (Episode 41) Seven Habits of Highly Effective Listeners (Continued) HIghlights
Listening well means to pay careful attention to what’s being said in a way that encourages people to continue to share even more of their story
The fourth habit of highly effective listeners: Don’t use your own stories to compete with others.
Don’t equate your experience with theirs. If they're talking abo...
Highlights: Ears | Seven Habits of Highly Effective Listeners (1-3)
A checklist for listening well
First, keep the focus on the other person
A support response does this by asking questions and reflecting/paraphrasing what the other person is saying.
While listening...One of the most helpful things we should be listening for is an open door to ask another question. The insight you are seeking is often not behind that first, second ...
Highlights: Ep. 39 | Ears | Part 2 | The Soft Power of Listening - The Secret Sauce of Great Conversations
Curiosity...it’s the single most important factor in listening well. It’s the secret sauce. Great
conversations are driven by curiosity. So follow your curiosity.
The obvious tool of my trade is the tape recorder, but I suppose the real tool is curiosity.
(Studs Terkel)
Curiosity is not an involuntary impulse. It’...
Highlights: Ep.38 | Ears | Part 1 | Five Reasons This May Be Our Most Important Life Skill
Definition: Listening well is more than just hearing with our ears. It’s hearing with our hearts.
One: Listening well creates a unique and almost sacred bond between people.
Those who listen longer than most people ever listen will hear things that most people never
hear. (Carey Nieuwhoff)
Two: Listenin...
Highlights - Ep. 37 | Mere Christianity | Part 16 | The Road Less Traveled
I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity. (God in the Dock)
Christ says, “Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you. I have no...
Highlights: Ep. 37 | Mere Christianity | Part 16 | The Road Less Traveled
The secret to the abundant life is not our responsibility but our response to God’s ability. (E.Stanley Jones)
First: The Imitation of Christ - “Let’s Pretend.”
Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already. That is why children's games are so important. They are always pretending to be grow...
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