How to Carpool With Jesus at Christmas w/ Justin Herman

What if your family’s favorite Christmas traditions are powerful tools for discipleship and faith at home?

In this festive episode of the Collide Kids Podcast, host Christen Clark sits down with Justin Herman—online pastor at Mariners Church, father of four, and creator of the “Carpooling with Jesus” podcast. Listen in as they swap jokes, share inspiration for Christian parenting, and dive into practical ideas for raising Christian kids, making family time meaningful, and nurturing spiritual growth through everyday life and holiday fun.

Resources:

• Carpooling with Jesus: @carpoolingwithjesus
• Home Alone a Christian Movie Theory: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mpkVVrecsNE
• Website: collidekidspodcast.com
• Instagram: @collidekidspod
• Christen’s Amazon Recommendation List

Clip Finder

Breaking the Routine: "Dad coming to school was not part of the routine."

— Justin Herman [00:07:51 → 00:07:53]

Viral Topic - Turning Complaints into Creation: "And she's like, well, why don't you start your own? And I thought about it for, like, three months, and I put a lot of work into it. And we launched last January, Carpooling with Jesus, which is a daily, short devotional podcast for kids."

— Justin Herman [00:08:28 → 00:08:43]

Viral Topic: What Would Jesus Say at Your Breakfast Table?

Quote: "if Jesus were sitting with you at the breakfast table or riding with you on the way to school, like, what would he say? Like, what would be that thing he would give you to help you start your day?"

— Justin Herman [00:08:52 → 00:09:00]

Viral Topic: Faith-Based Parenting Communities: "It embeds some automatic community of like minded parents who want the best for their kids, knowing that the best for their kids is Jesus."

— Justin Herman [00:12:00 → 00:12:07]

Viral Podcast Giveaway: "If they message me on Instagram and say, hey, you know, I started listening because of Collide, I will mail them some limited edition Carpooling with Jesus stickers for their kids."

— Justin Herman [00:12:50 → 00:13:01]

Viral Holiday Tradition: "When you drive around and see Christmas lights, I think that's a really easy, cheap thing to do, right? Like, it costs no money at all, right? Getting the. Get in the car, bring some snacks, drive around neighborhoods, see Christmas lights, the whole thing."

— Justin Herman [00:17:24 → 00:17:34]

The Real Family Tradition: "So it might not be the same thing we do every year, but every year we do it as a family."

— Justin Herman [00:18:20 → 00:18:25]

How Growing Up Among Bills Fans Shaped My Faith: That one thing shaped more of my thinking around people and around, you know, now as an adult, around ministry that planted seeds that grew into big, beautiful trees of faith, trees of ministry, trees of care for others.

— Justin Herman [00:21:09 → 00:21:25]

The Importance of Parental Guidance: You want more on the ledger of things that your kids experience for the first time to be with you than to be with anyone else.

— Justin Herman [00:23:04 → 00:23:12]

Bark proactively works to monitor, detect, and alert you to potential issues on your kids' devices. Visit bark.us to learn more about how you can keep your kids safe online. Use the code COLLIDEKIDS to get 15% off Your Bark Technologies Plan !

Transcript

Transcript

Christen Clark [00:00:30]:

Welcome to the Collide Kids Podcast. I'm your host, Christen Clark. The Collide Kids Podcast is a show for kids and families where we learn together how life and faith collide. I am so glad you're listening today. Thank you for being here, especially just a few days away from Christmas. So I don't know if you are listening to this while you're checking out Christmas lights or wrapping presents or whatever you're doing, but I hope you're having some great time.

Justin Herman [00:00:54]:

Thank you.

Christen Clark [00:00:55]:

Spent with your family. If you're a parent and you're listening, I just want to remind you about my other podcast called 7 Minute Devotions for Busy Parents. Definitely go check that out. This December, I released a special four part series based on Isaiah 9:6 Walking through the Names of Jesus and what they mean for our families. During this season, it's just short seven minute episodes that hopefully are very encouraging to you. Perfect for busy parents who want to stay rooted in truth and even when your life feels a little overwhelming. So definitely go check that out. Well, I have a question for you.

Christen Clark [00:01:28]:

How is your Christmas shopping going? Because we're only a few days away and I hope you are completely finished and have everything all wrapped under the tree. But if not, if you're still looking for a few last minute gift ideas or maybe even something meaningful to start off the new year, I've got you covered. I put together an Amazon list with some of the best books and resources recommended by my guests that have been on the show this year, like family devotionals and Bibles and really great content for preteens and special needs and picture books and so much more. So you still have a few days left to go grab something from Amazon. The link will be in the show notes today, so be sure to check that out. Well, now for today's episode, we're ending the year with something very special and fun. This is a Christmas themed conversation that you're absolutely going to love. And I'm joined by my friend, Justin Herman.

Christen Clark [00:02:21]:

Justin is the online pastor at Mariners Church in Southern California and the creator and host of the Carpooling with Jesus podcast. He is a husband, a dad of four kids and someone who is very passionate about helping families talk about faith in everyday moments, like even in the car. Right. Well, in this episode we're going to be talking about Jesus, Christmas, family traditions, our favorite Christmas movies. It's going to be so much fun. Thank you so much for listening today. Let's jump into this Christmas conversation and finish the year celebrating Jesus together. Here is my conversation with Justin Herman.

Christen Clark [00:03:05]:

Justin Herman, I am so excited to have you on the Collide Kids podcast today.

Justin Herman [00:03:11]:

It's great being on here. Thanks for inviting me. I'm humbled. This is going to be a ton of fun.

Christen Clark [00:03:14]:

Yeah. So I always say that people that listen to podcasts are people that listen to podcasts, so. So you have a podcast. That's how I found you. And now you're on my podcast. And so we're just going to share our podcasting experiences on here.

Justin Herman [00:03:30]:

At some point. I'll have to get you, I'll have to get you to come guest host an episode of my podcast sometime.

Christen Clark [00:03:35]:

I'd love it.

Justin Herman [00:03:36]:

That would be the full circle moment of it all.

Christen Clark [00:03:38]:

I love it. Would you just introduce yourself for our listeners? Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Justin Herman [00:03:43]:

I'm Justin. I'm the online pastor at a church called Mariners Church in Southern California. I live in Arizona with my family. I'm married. I have four kids. They're tremendous. I love them. I like to do marathons and I do jiu jitsu and I do my own podcast called Carpooling with Jesus, which is a daily kids devotional podcast.

Justin Herman [00:04:04]:

And I just, I love swimming in my pool and making memories and having fun going on dates with my wife. And we just did the gingerbread houses. My kids, I love doing crafts with them and, you know, doing, just doing fun parent kids stuff, especially during Christmas is the best time to do it.

Christen Clark [00:04:19]:

Oh, absolutely. It's so fun. And are your kids homeschooled or. They go to school.

Justin Herman [00:04:23]:

They go to a private Christian school, which is like, you know, it's one of those things because they know I'm a pastor. So I go and I speak at the school all the time in chapel. Like, I, like, I'm the, the go to guy if someone cancels. And they, they book me a ton. So it's hilarious when one of my kids gets in trouble and, and you know, it's the pastor's kid who gets in trouble. And I, I absolutely love that. I, I love moments like that. Cause they, that's.

Justin Herman [00:04:48]:

There's one thing that kids don't care about. It's what their parents do for a living. Kids will be kids in every situation, and that is a good thing. It's Probably a very healthy thing, actually.

Christen Clark [00:04:56]:

Yeah, I love that. Yes. Especially kids are home for the holidays once they get off Christmas break, you know, and you got to come up with lots of fun stuff to do, so.

Justin Herman [00:05:06]:

Yes.

Christen Clark [00:05:07]:

So you got to. You got to have, like, plans in place, you know, to keep them. Keep them not on screens the entire time. That's our goal. That's just our only goal.

Justin Herman [00:05:15]:

I do not. We do not want that. We. We do not want screens. No. We want memories. We want outside play. We want drawing and crafts and alpha on the shelf activities and, like, Christmas movies.

Justin Herman [00:05:27]:

We want all of that. If the. If the biggest memory of my kids looking back is what they did on their screens during break, then I. I failed as a parent.

Christen Clark [00:05:35]:

That's right. That. Exactly right. Well, I'm so excited to talk with you today, and I'm so excited. This is coming out right before Christmas, so we're going to. We're going to have a really great Christmas conversation.

Justin Herman [00:05:45]:

I have my Christmas shirt on, totally ready.

Christen Clark [00:05:49]:

You're Hawaiian Santa. I love it. That's so great.

Justin Herman [00:05:51]:

Yes. Yeah. I have, like, five of these, by the way, so. So I totally live in Arizona.

Christen Clark [00:05:56]:

You need that.

Justin Herman [00:05:57]:

I have a whole section of Hawaiian shirt. I love where I wear Hawaiian shirts seven days a week. Only when I do very serious meetings do I, like, put on, like, a different shirt.

Christen Clark [00:06:05]:

That's amazing.

Justin Herman [00:06:06]:

Hawaiian shirts.

Christen Clark [00:06:07]:

That's awesome. Before we get started with your story, because this is a show for kids, I always ask my guests to tell me a joke. So do you have a joke for us today?

Justin Herman [00:06:16]:

What did Santa like to do in music class? Ooh, work on his rapping.

Christen Clark [00:06:23]:

That's good.

Justin Herman [00:06:23]:

All right. That's off the top of my head. That's the best I got.

Christen Clark [00:06:25]:

I like.

Justin Herman [00:06:26]:

I hope you like it.

Christen Clark [00:06:28]:

I do. Hey, I spoke in kids ministry this past Sunday, and one of the kids came up and told me a joke.

Justin Herman [00:06:34]:

What was it?

Christen Clark [00:06:35]:

He said, why is Santa so good at karate?

Justin Herman [00:06:38]:

I have no idea why, because he.

Christen Clark [00:06:40]:

He wears a black belt. That's good, right?

Justin Herman [00:06:42]:

That's good. I like that. I mean, that's very real.

Christen Clark [00:06:46]:

So let's talk a little bit about your podcast, because that's, like I said, that's how I found you. It's called carpooling with Jesus. How did you get started in podcasting, and why did you come up with that name?

Justin Herman [00:06:58]:

I got started in podcasting in probably the year 2014 or 2015. It was a while ago, and I got started doing a junior high ministry podcast, so I used to be the junior high pastor at Mariners. And my wife encouraged me to start a junior high ministry podcast. And so I did, and I did it for multiple years. And then, you know, that I stopped doing it. I left junior high ministry. I stopped doing it. But I was always kind of in the podcast world in one, you know, some way, shape or form.

Justin Herman [00:07:23]:

I consulted or helped people start podcasts, you know, friends of mine, whatever. When we moved to Arizona, we started taking our kids to a new school. And my wife has an awesome routine. Probably like a lot of kids listening, Their mom has an awesome routine for their morning time and breakfast and, you know, which, you know, brushing your teeth and getting ready for school, the whole thing. Well, they were all going to school. And I said, well, hey, can I jump in the car and go with you? Because I had nothing to do that morning. That was not part of the routine. Dad coming to school was not part of the routine.

Justin Herman [00:07:53]:

And she said, well, okay, you can come. But, you know, we listen to some podcasts and we do some affirmations and we pray together, which is obviously all stuff that I love. Well, we get in the car, and she puts on a podcast that I've never heard of before. It was much older, and it was the only one she could find that was like a. Kind of like a daily podcast. But so she. But she's listening to it from a couple years ago, and I wasn't impressed with it. I'm going to be honest with you.

Justin Herman [00:08:16]:

I wasn't impressed. It was long, and it was. They were talking about, like, Roman tax law in the Bible. Like, it was very, like, obscure. And I know it was very obscure, but it was for kids. And I complained about it, like any dad would, right? And she's like, well, why don't you start your own? And I thought about it for, like, three months, and I put a lot of work into it. And we launched last January, Carpooling with Jesus, which is a daily, short devotional podcast for kids. So every episode ends with a question.

Justin Herman [00:08:46]:

The idea of every episode is, if Jesus was sitting with you at the breakfast table, you know, we have a lot of homeschool families that. Listen, if Jesus were sitting with you at the breakfast table or riding with you on the way to school, like, what would he say? Like, what would be that thing he would give you to help you start your day? And that's the premise of every episode. And we take Bible stories, we take themes like friendship and telling the truth and building trust and integrity, and it's in kid language. Because our target audience, if I'm being honest, is my kids. My kids are the target audience. And I have a 10 year old, a 9 year old, and two 5 year olds. So I want it to work for my kids. But what we've found is there's a lot of other kids that listen to it too, which is awesome.

Justin Herman [00:09:26]:

And that's how it started. And it's been going great. And there's no end in sight. Carpooling with Jesus, It's a lot of fun.

Christen Clark [00:09:34]:

Yeah.

Justin Herman [00:09:34]:

So it ends with a question so parents can have discussion with their kid. Because I don't want to just listen to something and just say, okay, well, it's over now. You know, whatever I want to be able to say, well, hey, what'd you think about that? Like, what did you learn? Like, how does that apply to your day? And so we end every episode with a question so that you can talk about it together in the car before you go off to school.

Christen Clark [00:09:53]:

You know, that's how I started my show too, is like, I wanted to find something for my kids. I think a lot of the podcasts that are out there for kids usually are for, like, much younger kids. So a lot of the stuff I was finding was for preschoolers or and things like that. And my kids are older, elementary at the time, and so I was like, what's something they would be interested in? And so, yeah, so that's what I do my show for my kids now, they're a little bit older now, so I don't know that they would enjoy.

Justin Herman [00:10:18]:

To listen to sometimes.

Christen Clark [00:10:19]:

I'm like, this is really cool. You got to hear this. This guy's awesome. But, yeah, yeah, and they do the intro. So if you listen to my show at the very beginning, my kids did the intro, and they did it when they were very young. Now their voices don't sound that young and innocent anymore. And they're like, can we change this? I'm like, no, it's adorable.

Justin Herman [00:10:37]:

So the. The. As we did carpool with Jesus, we expanded it and we included a nighttime podcast called Good Night Psalms as well, and which is shorter. It's much shorter. It's like two minutes long, maybe sometimes. But my kids do the intro and the outro for that one, and they love it. They. They love hearing their own voices.

Justin Herman [00:10:57]:

It's a lot of fun.

Christen Clark [00:10:58]:

What. What's something that you love about podcasting as your job?

Justin Herman [00:11:03]:

I think. I think a podcast allows you to build community in a unique way. I. We have an Instagram account. We have a Facebook group. I talk to parents all the time from different parts of the country. I'm able to give shout outs to their kids on the podcast, which is fun. It makes it feel personal.

Justin Herman [00:11:20]:

It makes it feel like, man, you know, I'm noticed. And, and I like that community building aspect of, of a podcast, that it's not just a thing that you consume. You know, if you're listening to Carpooling with Jesus, and I would say the same thing about Collide. If you're listening to it, you want the best for your kids. Okay, so you're already kind of part of a subgroup of parents that want the best for their kids, but they want the best for their kids. And in a spiritual context, like in a pursuit of Jesus, of spiritual things, of Christianity context, that's not every single parent on earth. But for the parents who engage with our podcast, they do want that. So it embeds some automatic community of like minded parents who want the best for their kids, knowing that the best for their kids is Jesus.

Justin Herman [00:12:07]:

So I think seeing that take shape is probably one of the most rewarding fun parts.

Christen Clark [00:12:12]:

I love that. Yeah. And I'm the same way. I think for me, podcasting has opened the door for me to just meet so many different people. Like you. I would have never got to meet you, but you know, because I have this show, I get to make friends. Well, I think this is awesome that you have this show and I hope our listeners will definitely check it out because I think it'd be a great resource. If you're listening to podcasts and you're already in that mode of turning on something weekly or daily just to have that encouragement, that's what you offer.

Justin Herman [00:12:39]:

So you know what, I'll, I actually, I will up the ante for you if, if one of your listeners, if any of your listeners, you know, pop over and listen to Carpooling with Jesus and check it out. If they message me on Instagram and say, hey, you know, I started listening because of Collide, I will mail them some limited edition Carpooling with Jesus stickers for their kids. I have a staff of, in my office. I'd love to mail them. And so if you're listening and you're like, you come check out Carpooling with Jesus because you heard it here, let me know, I'll send you some stickers for you.

Christen Clark [00:13:12]:

Free stickers. Come on.

Justin Herman [00:13:13]:

There you go. I mean, what kid doesn't like free stickers? That's great. There's always a place to put a free sticker. Come On.

Christen Clark [00:13:19]:

That's exactly right. I love that. That's awesome. So I know Christmas is right around the corner, and so I feel like something we serious that we have to talk about is what you believe is the best Christmas movie.

Justin Herman [00:13:34]:

I think Home Alone is the best Christmas movie of all time.

Christen Clark [00:13:36]:

Okay, tell me why.

Justin Herman [00:13:37]:

This is the reason why I believe that my kids love it. Number one to the. The. At the core of that movie is family. So whenever the core of the movie is family and family's reconciled at the end, that's a beautiful thing. Okay. I love my family. I want my kids to see a movie that puts family on display from the very beginning and reconciliation within the family.

Justin Herman [00:13:58]:

Okay, so that's a beautiful, like, underlying theme. But I'd also say that the. The pranks are awesome, but uniquely for boys, it gets them thinking creatively. Like, they. They. They're thinking through, like, oh, like, is that real? Like, could you really do that? I'm like. I'm like, no, you can't. Like, that would.

Justin Herman [00:14:17]:

That would probably kill the person. But there's. But there's pranks that you can pull that are just as, like, creative that you know pulleys and rubber bands and do different things you can use, not like metal beams and nails. So. But it gets them thinking creatively, and I like that. But. And also, in the end, it's Christmas. Like, it's all.

Justin Herman [00:14:38]:

It's themed around Christmas. There's a little bit of saving Christmas. You know, he's a hero and he's a kid. So, like, young kids, like, they see themselves as, like, that would be me. If I was left alone by accident, I would defend the neighborhood. And I like that. I totally. Like, I was like that when I was a kid.

Justin Herman [00:14:54]:

I mean, I saw that movie when I was a kid. That's how old the movie is. And I totally was that kid. Like, I was like, oh, that's me, Mom. If you forgot me, we'd be okay. I'd protect us, and you would live.

Christen Clark [00:15:05]:

On macaroni and cheese, right?

Justin Herman [00:15:06]:

100. 100%. And pizza delivered pizza. Like, all those bits. Like, those are just classic, timeless bits. Yeah, I think that's. I think that's the best Christmas movie.

Christen Clark [00:15:15]:

I love it. Okay, so let me tell you this. And now, I don't know if you've heard this. I just saw some. There's, like, a couple videos circulating that the old man in the movie is actually, like, a Christ figure. So if you watch the storyline, go back and watch it. Because now I'm like, okay, now. Now this is on the Internet, so I don't know if it's true or not, but they're talking about how at the beginning, you know, Kevin is nervous, he's scared of him, but he ends up being this person that steps in, like when he's about to steal the toothbrush at the store, and the man comes in and he stops him, and he connects with him at the church, and.

Christen Clark [00:15:54]:

And there's always a bandage on his hand, like, he has a cut on his hand. And then there's something else at the end where, like, he reconciles with his family. And so I don't know. I saw this video, and I was like, wait, what? So they were, like, talking about how you can kind of see, like, the picture of, like, redemption, not only with the family, but also with. With Jesus. So now you got to go back and watch it.

Justin Herman [00:16:16]:

I'm. I'm going to go back. I mean, I'll be watching it a few more times before Christmas is over, trust me. And when I do, I'm going to be thinking about it through that lens. I'm going to be paying attention. I've never heard that. And I'm. I'm immediately intrigued by that.

Justin Herman [00:16:29]:

I'm very.

Christen Clark [00:16:30]:

So what's your family doing for Christmas? What are some Christmas traditions you guys are. Are going to do? Getting closer to the holiday?

Justin Herman [00:16:37]:

So we've been in Phoenix, like, four years now, so there's locations we go to where they have specific, you know, the light thing that we drive through or, you know, the Christmas experience thing where we go see Santa, which we just did that, by the way. Cool. My kid is like, you know, I don't know what to ask Santa for. He's nine years old. And I say, you know, just tell him you want a BB gun.

Christen Clark [00:16:59]:

Red Rider BB gun.

Justin Herman [00:17:00]:

A Red Rider BB gun. Okay, good. So you know where this is going.

Christen Clark [00:17:03]:

Yes.

Justin Herman [00:17:04]:

And. And I'm hoping that the Santa's legit. Okay. I'm hoping this Santa's dialed in. And so Cannon's like, I want a BB gun. And the Santa whips his head. You'll shoot your eye out, kid.

Christen Clark [00:17:15]:

Nice.

Justin Herman [00:17:16]:

I lost it. I totally lost it. I cheered. I was so happy. But so, yeah, we go see Santa, and the Grinch was there. When you drive around and see Christmas lights, I think that's a really easy, cheap thing to do, right? Like, it costs no money at all, right? Getting the. Get in the car, bring some snacks, drive around neighborhoods, see Christmas lights, the whole thing. A lot of cities have like, you know, influencers, you know, who will give you like all the places to go in a city, you know, the lights and whatnot.

Justin Herman [00:17:41]:

But you just drive around, you see lights. We do that. We, we did the tree decorating already, so that's obviously already been done. We did the gingerbread houses yesterday. That's tradition. That's already been done.

Christen Clark [00:17:51]:

Okay.

Justin Herman [00:17:51]:

You know, we do a lot of family stuff. So I mean, we're with family. My sister in law is in from New York right now and so we spent, we're spending a ton of time with her. We're going to see them in about an hour. We want to see the new David movie. David, the cartoon movie. So we're want to see.

Christen Clark [00:18:06]:

Wait for that.

Justin Herman [00:18:06]:

And so like, it's like, I wouldn't say go into a movie as a tradition, but doing things as a family, it's like, hey, we're going to do family things, we're together things during this time, whatever those things may be, we're doing them as a family. So it might not be the same thing we do every year, but every year we do it as a family. Maybe it's seeing a movie, maybe it's doing hot chocolate somewhere. Maybe we're going to do, you know, go see some reindeer somewhere or whatever. We're going to do it as a family. So that's, that's the, the underlying tradition of everything.

Christen Clark [00:18:39]:

I love that I've talked about this on the show before, but when I was growing up, my family would go look at Christmas lights and if a house was decorated like, you know, like just crazy, like you could tell they just like threw it together or it was just a lot of like stuff messed up or it was just too much. We would give them what we called the tacky toot, which is my dad would honk the horn and we would speed away. And so, so that's really funny. Yeah. So we'd, we'd be like, they get the tacky. So we'd have to vote as a family of who got the, the horn. Honk. And so people, I'm sure people are sitting at their homes and they're like.

Christen Clark [00:19:13]:

And then there's a car like speeding off. It was my family. We were just judging you and your light decorating skills.

Justin Herman [00:19:20]:

So that's hilarious. I'm sure one of, one of those houses. There was a kid thinking, I think they're gonna break in. I better start setting pranks. I better start setting devices. Now. That was a hint.

Christen Clark [00:19:30]:

That's right. He's, he's up there pulling the pulley.

Justin Herman [00:19:32]:

Exactly.

Christen Clark [00:19:33]:

The painter thing on the pulley. Well, Justin, this has been so fun. Thank you so much for being on the show today. Tell our listeners where they can find out more about you and. And where they can get their stickers.

Justin Herman [00:19:45]:

Yes, well, they can go check out Carpooling with Jesus on Spotify, on Apple. Podcasts. Really, it's anywhere that you, you listen to podcasts, but those mainly are the two big ones. Instagram at Carpooling with Jesus. And check out the show. Send me a message on Instagram @CarpoolingwithJesus. Let me know you heard about the show on the podcast. I'll send you some stickers.

Justin Herman [00:20:05]:

It'll be great.

Christen Clark [00:20:06]:

That's amazing. Thank you so much for doing that. I love it.

Justin Herman [00:20:08]:

Absolutely. And you need to send me a message too. I will send you some stickers and you can put them on your coffee mug or do it water bottle or the wall or something. Do whatever you want.

Christen Clark [00:20:18]:

I love it. I'll do it. I love stickers. Well, before I let you go, I always like to ask my guests to share a memory from when they were a kid. And so can you tell me a memory from your childhood?

Justin Herman [00:20:28]:

I'm going to make it a Christmas memory. Sticking with the theme. When I was 10 years old, my mom took us to a soup kitchen to serve the homeless. I had never been around the homeless. I maybe have seen them as I've been driving by. I never had a single conversation with a homeless person in my entire life as a 10 year old boy. And she took us to go serve the homeless at a soup kitchen where I met kids my own age that were homeless. I met a bunch of other adults that were Bills fans.

Justin Herman [00:21:03]:

I grew up in Buffalo, by the way, so they were Bills fans. They were great. They were kind. That one thing shaped more of my thinking around people and around, you know, now as an adult, around ministry that planted seeds that grew into big, beautiful trees of faith, trees of ministry, trees of care for others. I think a part of my selfishness died that day, you know, and I think that was my mom's hope and she got her way. I mean, I think I started looking at myself and what I had differently. It was a really big time. I think the yes, there are people who are homeless who have very little, but being around them, they had.

Justin Herman [00:21:44]:

There was a lot of joy in the people that I was serving. There's a lot of joy in the relationships they had with one another. And that's the thing that stuck with me. That even though they had very little, like, they might have been poor financially, but they were rich in relationship with each other.

Christen Clark [00:22:01]:

Yeah.

Justin Herman [00:22:01]:

And I didn't have those words when I was 10 years old. Like, only, you know, as an adult, you know, as you process it, can you really, you know, know what. What you experienced? But they may have been poor financially, but they were rich in relationships. You know, I looked at myself, like, who had a lot of stuff, but, you know, I was poor in relationships. Like, you know, that was actually during a time where I was moving schools and I was making new friends and I was having a really terrible time making new friends, actually. So, like, it was a pivotal time for me and I thank my mom for doing it. She's passed away. She's with Jesus now.

Justin Herman [00:22:33]:

But, man, I'm so thankful to her for taking me on that. That adventure and teaching me that that is the biggest memory from my childhood that I have around Christmas.

Christen Clark [00:22:43]:

That's beautiful. I love that. And I love that your mom did that for you at a young age. Because I think a lot of times we think like, oh, my kids aren't old enough for that. But your kids can. They can serve, they can help, they can contribute. So that's awesome that you got to do that.

Justin Herman [00:22:56]:

Yeah, I think that's right. God gave the responsibility of raising kids to parents, so there's a boldness there. Yeah. Push the envelope, you know, let them experience things. You want more on the ledger of things that your kids experience for the first time to be with you than to be with anyone else. Like, I want the first conversations about certain topics to happen with mom and dad. I want the first time experiencing certain things to be with mom and dad. Like, I think there's safety with mom and dad.

Justin Herman [00:23:23]:

I think there's safety of conversation with mom and dad. So the more parents. And so maybe this is just like a shout out to parents through the teaching of my mom, that the more you can have those first experiences with your kid, the better. Like, and just have them and there's no wrong about it. And you just figure it out as you go. Go for it. Yeah.

Christen Clark [00:23:46]:

Great advice. Well, thank you, Justin, so much for being on the show today. This was great.

Justin Herman [00:23:51]:

It was wonderful. Thank you for having me. Yeah.

Christen Clark [00:23:53]:

Merry Christmas.

Justin Herman [00:24:03]:

Wow.

Christen Clark [00:24:03]:

What a beautiful memory. He shared about his mom taking him to serve the homeless when he was 10. That's. I think it's just things like this that make such a huge impact on families. And especially your kids. They're going to remember stuff like that. I hope you and your family will find ways to serve and help others this year. Even if it's just helping a neighbor move their trash can or deliver cookies to someone or donate extra shoes and coats to a local ministry, there's lots of ways for your family to help serve others.

Christen Clark [00:24:32]:

I love that Justin has created his Carpooling with Jesus show for his own family and so many people have listened and benefited from it. And what great encouragement, he said. If you're listening to podcasts content like Carpooling with Jesus or the Collide Kids Podcast, you're doing great things for your family because you're providing your kids with resources where they're gonna be growing in their faith and they're learning more about other people and and about the Bible. So keep up the good work listening to podcasts. Hey, if you would like to get some of those stickers he talked about, you need to follow Carpooling with Jesus on Instagram and message him. Let him know that you listened today's episode and you want some of those free stickers that I think that's such a generous gift, so definitely take advantage of that. You can also follow and subscribe to his podcast, Carpooling with Jesus on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. So be sure to listen to that and send him some encouragement.

Christen Clark [00:25:28]:

All right, now it's time for one of my favorite parts of the show. It's our family discussion time. So this is where I'm going to ask just a few fun, thoughtful questions for you to help keep the conversation going. So you can pause between each question, talk about it now, or listen to all of them and pick which one you like best or chat about them later. Whatever works best for you and your family. So let's talk about it. Here's the first one. Let's talk about our favorites.

Christen Clark [00:25:53]:

What is your favorite color? What is your favorite Christmas movie? What is your favorite Christmas treat or candy? Or if you want to quiz each other and see if you already know the answers of your family members, I think that would be a fun game. Here's the next question. What is one Christmas tradition your family loves to do? Maybe you've already done it, or maybe there's still time and you want to make sure you get it in before Christmas Day. And here's the third one. What is one way that your family can serve or volunteer this month? Well, I hope you guys came up with some really good ideas and it sparked some great conversations with your family as we wrap up this last episode of the year. I just want to say thank you so much for listening and being a part of the Collide Kids podcast in 2025. We're going to be taking a little bit of time off for the Christmas time season and getting back in swing of things in January. So if you miss us over the break, make sure to go back and listen to some past episodes that you might have missed and be on the lookout for brand new episodes coming in January.

Christen Clark [00:26:58]:

You're not going to want to miss these episodes. I've got some amazing guests coming up. It's really cool. You can follow along on social media, @CollideKidspod on Facebook, and don't forget to check out that Amazon link that's in the show notes for some great books and resources. Listen, I am so grateful for you and your support and your listening, your prayers, all the things that you've done to share this episode with other people. Thank you so so much. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and I will see you next year. And in case no one has told you today, I would love to be the first to remind you that God loves you so much.

Christen Clark [00:27:34]:

Merry Christmas.