BONUS 8 - Carlos Whittaker | Hope Worth Repeating with Amanda Valantine

Have you been moving so fast that you’ve left people in your wake? Has social media jaded your heart with regard to compassion? Do you typically judge first or love first?

Amanda Valantine is back with a new episode of Hope Worth Repeating featuring Carlos Whittaker’s new book, “How to Human: Three Ways to Share Life Beyond What Distracts, Divides, and Disconnects Us".

Whittaker’s book meets us in a post-pandemic society that is very disconnected and distracted. There’s not enough time or resources to help one another, let alone see one another fully. But as Jon Acuff said about the book in his New York Times review, Whittaker has served up “an antidote to what ails us.”

Whether you are feeling disillusioned by the lack of compassion in the world pr are feeling fatigued by the incessant distractions and devices, this book will speak to you.

Be sure to subscribe to the show, then RATE and REVIEW the show to help us reach more who need to hear about, and be reminded of, The True HOPE.
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FROM THE SHOW:

"How to Human” Book *:

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Transcript

Amanda Valantine: 0:11

Hello friends, and welcome to Hope Worth Repeating a weekly podcast segment of Behind the Mike podcast with Mike Stone. My name is Amanda Valentine and I am honored to hold this safe and sacred space with you every Thursday to share from a diverse group of authors and their works, quotes that I pray will bring you hope. Each week I will provide you the link to the featured work and creator so you have the opportunity to dive deeper into hope worth repeating. I don't know about you. I know about me, but I don't know about you. Have you felt like you are still adjusting to life postpandemic? I mean, let's be honest, I'm wearing sweatpants with this blazer. That's just what the pandemic taught us. Do you tire from the all opinions no compassion side of social media and in our world in general. Are you more of a game knowledge person or a take action person? Both are welcome here. Do you think that humanity has lost its touch with its own humaneness? You're in the right place. Go ahead and take a nice deep breath. Roll your shoulders back a few times, as I share hope worth repeating. For my featured author Carlos Whittaker and his book, How to Human: Three Ways to Share Life Beyond What Distracts, Divides, and Disconnects Us. First, I want to take a minute and say a quick thank you for your prayers last week after the podcast dropped. Your kind comments, encouragement and prayers were not wasted. And my family thinks you. If you find yourself in the middle of crisis and chaos, make sure to go back and listen to last week's podcast about life's nothing else matters moments. I believe it will be an encouragement to you. Onto our author Carlos Whittaker and his antidote to what ails us, hope filled book, How to human. This book is a breath of fresh air in our stale and self focused society. Whitaker calls us to make the shift from me to we to everybody throughout the books three part journey of being human seeing fellow humans and freeing those around us. How to human teaches us how to once again connect to other humans in a simple and practical way that calls us beyond platitudes. And our devices into real compassionate and loving relationships. One of the parts of the book refers us back to lockdown during the pandemic. Whitaker reminds us how everything slowed way down and even stopped for a bit. I can remember where I was when schools were shut down. When work was shut down. We were forced to look at life from a different viewpoint. He calls it God's speed, the speed of walking, which for humans is three miles per hour. He calls to memory how Jesus did so many things. And he inhaled SO MANY people. But he still was always walking three miles per hour. Of course he could meet people along the way at that pace. And imagine the relationship between him and his disciples with walking three miles per hour all over the entire landscape of his time on Earth. Whitaker well, he seems like the kind of person that can call by his first name. So Carlos asks us to imagine what it would be like to slow down again, not for a pandemic, but for the sake of being human and seeing our fellow humans and having compassion on them. I want you to get to hear his voice. So here how Carlos describes humanity. He says, humanity doesn't need a rebuild. It simply needs a recalibration. I love that. But we have to ask ourselves, what will we use as a guide for recalibration? Carlos boldly asserts that we need to calibrate ourselves to who Jesus is was and always has been. What Jesus's life look like when he walked Earth as fully human Wofully god, that's our calibration tool. Carlos goes on to say, quote, we need to return to the original design for who God made us to become. When that happens, something comes alive in each of us, something wakes up something that can join with the people around us to do incredible, brave, exciting, kind, and generous things, the kind of things that a world in pain and uncertainty needs. End quote. One thing I will never tire of is watching how people lean into the pain and suffering of others in new and innovative and creative ways. Remember, when the shoe company Toms first popped onto the market? They had the mission to give one pair of shoes for every pair of shoes that were bought. Do you remember what you thought the first time you heard about their marketing plan? I do. I also reminded of a local charity charity that I support called the scatter Joy project. They exist to fight the negative stigma surrounding mental health struggles, create compassionate community to fight isolation and loneliness. And to make mental health accessible and affordable for all. One of the things they do is get as many volunteers as they can to hand out roses to random people to scatter joy around and show people that they are seen and not forgotten, or alone. I love the creative compassion. However, you don't have to start a nonprofit or a business to show compassion. Carlos boils it down like this, quote, let's stop complicating love. Let's just find people who are hurting and love them. Who just popped into your brain when you heard that quote? Or what segment of people do you think of? There's a reason for that? Love them? How does love get complicated? Well, there's personal preference, there's judgments, there's opinions. Someone may say that they don't agree with another's politics, so they can't or won't have compassion on them. Some may say that certain segments of people deserve to suffer because of their choices. Others may have opinions on how we should or shouldn't show compassion, which confuses us, and we just isolate inside our bubble. One of the sections of Carlos his book talks about seeing really seeing our fellow humans. The truth is we have to be willing to see it's too easy to ignore suffering. We forget in our 65 mile per hour world to walk three miles per hour so we can actually see people or maybe we are walking but we have our phone in front of our face. I'm guilty. It's become way too easy to be distracted from the humans who need our compassion. Here's what Carlos says, quote, at the core of each one of us, compassion can outweigh personal opinion and quote, this is huge. We don't have to agree with someone or judge them unworthy of compassion. Because when we become calibrated to Jesus, our core is compassion. Judgment will not come first. Compassion will come first. So let's take Carlos his advice. Here's what he says quote for now, let's just do the simple thing. Go make someone feel loved today. And quote. Carlos is a take action kind of guy. He talks about conviction and how conviction is good to have but how good is it if there's no action that is taken because of it? That's why he says go take action. make someone feel love today. That will bring so much hope to humanity. A Hope Worth Repeating. Thank you for listening today. I hope you have been inspired to find someone today and show compassion and love. Let's just keep it simple. I want to challenge you to make a list of specific people or segments of people that you and God know, you need to turn judgment into compassion with. I also want to challenge you to slow your pace and actually see and talk to relate with fellow human beings. And finally, check your screen time this week, and see if there's room in your life to be human and connect with other humans. Like I mean face to face connections, not just the digital ones that we got used to, during the pandemic. Hope Worth Repeating is a new ish podcast, with the sole intent to spread hope and Jesus to everyone who listens. Together, we can put the human back into humanity by loving and extending compassion, one human at a time. And that includes social media out right. Remember, compassion over judgment. Thank you to Carlos Whittaker for taking the time to write and teach, to help us to learn and grow and encourage us to not just be convicted or stirred, but to take action. As a reminder, this podcast is a weekly segment of Behind the Mike podcast, which is a weekly podcast that drops every Sunday, you will want to share and subscribe to these Conversations of Hope. I'll be back next week with a new author and book to share. Today's book and author are linked in the show notes as well as how you can follow me on social media. I'll end today with a prayer inspired by Carlos his book, dear God helped me to remember my humaneness where I would be without you helped me to slow down and see the people you've created with compassion rather than judgment. Set a guard over my mouth and my social media presence so I can reflect what it looks like to be calibrated to Jesus. Thank You that it's your kindness that draws all people to you. Let me be that kind of presence wherever I go. At three miles per hour, in Jesus name, amen. Bye for now friends. I look forward to hearing from you. And we'll hold this space for you next week for some more HOPE WORTH REPEATING.