Every now and then, it’s essential to stop what you’re doing and take stock of where you are. That’s what Randy and Alan are doing today. Taking stock. In theory, this is a self critique of the thirty-seven previous podcasts. It’s also a conversation about relationship — this one but, really, about all relationships. About how they evolve for better or worse.
Taking stock is also good therapy — so long as the stock-taking is honest. As Randy and Alan discussed way back in Podcast #19 (“Confessions About Confession”), there’s something essential and good in coming clean about your dirty work. The question we asked in that episode was who are we confessing to? What authority does a corrupt institutional church really have io hear anyone else’s sins?
Over the course of thirty-seven podcasts so far, Randy and Alan have asked a lot of questions. They’ve gotten more than a little pissed off at each other, too. When you discuss things that are important to you, that comes with the territory. The trick to having a successful relationship isn’t how you handle easy times — hopefully, everyone can at least do that! The truth about any relationship reveals itself most clearly in the hardest of hard times. How you step back from an argument tells as much as why you got into the argument to begin with.
What have we learned from each other? What has surprised us? Where do we go from here?
That’s really the crux of any conversation — its place as part of a larger conversation. Start a conversation — or continue one — and you’re starting (or continuing) a relationship.
Or, if you’d prefer to watch…