Growing Closer to God with Guided Meditation
Welcome to the new season of the podcast, now titled "Growing Closer to God with Guided Meditation"!
Join your host, Pastor Robert Young, as we embark on a journey of spiritual exploration and renewal. This podcast is designed to help you deepen your faith and find inner peace through calming, reflective, and transformative meditative practices inspired by scripture.
Our Evolution
While the podcast, formerly known as Not Your Parent's Religion, focused in Seasons 1 and 2 on correcting misinformation and myths about religious beliefs and the teaching of Jesus Christ, the program has evolved. In Season 3, we began drawing closer to God with guided meditations, exploring all the details of why and how to meditate, and discussing the Biblical origins of Christian meditations.
With over 30 years of experience in Church planting and mentoring other Pastors, and 30+ years of training leaders in evangelism/discipleship, Pastor Young is here to guide you through these moments of stillness and connection with God.
What to Expect in Season 4
We are excited to return with Season 4 starting Sunday, October 5. We will continue to offer a structured weekly schedule:
- Sundays: Our weekly guided meditation episode.
- Monday through Friday: Daily devotions and reflections that expand on the topic of the Sunday meditations.
- Wednesdays: Audio episodes of our House Church series. This series reflects the Bible's teaching that believers should gather together for corporate worship, fellowship, encouragement, and even admonishment.
For those seeking an enhanced experience, we are adding video versions of the meditations and devotions to our Patreon page. These videos are designed to give you a more immersive experience as you meditate on the Father, His teachings, and His presence.
Tune in each week as we lead you on this path to connecting more deeply with God.
Growing Closer to God with Guided Meditation
Hiram the Camel is Back for 2025: The Nativity Scene Like You've Never Heard Before
A camel leads the way. We hand the story of the Nativity to Hiram, a two‑humped traveler with a dry wit and a wide‑open gaze, and what follows is a journey that feels dusty, dangerous, and startlingly alive. By shifting the narrator, we trade stained glass for footprints and watch the Magi’s long road unfold under a star that looks, unsettlingly, like a cross.
We explore why a desert animal is the perfect guide to endurance and faith, how the star’s selective glow raises questions about who gets to see guidance, and what it means when wealth kneels in a small house lit from above. The gifts—gold for kingship, frankincense for divinity, myrrh for mortality—turn into a compact biography of Jesus, stitching birth to destiny in a single moment of awe. Then the tone hardens: Hiram bristles in Herod’s court, the massacre of the innocents thunders through the night, and the Holy Family becomes a refugee family on the road to Egypt. Power shakes at a cradle; courage keeps walking anyway.
Along the way, we ask what fresh angles can do for familiar stories. If a camel can sharpen the Nativity, what might a shepherd, an innkeeper, or even a barn animal reveal about fear, wonder, and the cost of hope? This conversation blends narrative craft with historical texture, pairing a child‑friendly frame with adult‑level depth. Search-friendly themes include Nativity retelling, Magi journey, Herod’s threat, symbolic gifts, refugee Holy Family, and faith under pressure—but the heart is practical: perspective changes everything. Press play to see how a small shift in narrator opens a big door to meaning.
Enjoyed the journey? Subscribe, share with a friend who loves fresh takes on classic stories, and leave a review to tell us which perspective you want to hear next.
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