Kathryn was raised Catholic, but she only attended church on Easter Sunday.  Her Dad was raised in the Catholic church, went to Catholic school and was an altar boy.  She doesn’t know the reasoning, but when he was raising them, religion wasn’t important, and he seemed even be turned off by it.  One reason may be because Kathryn’s grandmother (his mom) would go to mass in the morning and be drunk by 2:00pm. 

As a child, If she would sleep over at a friend’s house on a Saturday night, she would go to church with them on Sunday. Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and she remembers a place called “Rock Church” where they danced and spoke in tongues! Nothing stuck.  In her early 20’s, she was wild. Partying all the time and after one extremely crazy night, decided she no longer wanted to live life that way.  So, Kathryn hit her knees and prayed to God for help. 

Now, she may not have been raised in church. But she can tell you as sure as she typed this, God has been with her as far back as she can remember.  She would talk to him all the time.  He would answer.  It wasn’t audible, but she could always hear him.  She can remember at 5 years old, as her Mom and Dad were in a drunken screaming fight, Ishe was crouched in a little bathroom of our military housing home.  She got on her knees, and cried out to God.  “Please, please take me back.  You’ve made a big mistake. You’ve put me in the wrong family.”  Well, he didn’t take her back. But things would get better for a while, before getting worse again.

As an elementary and middle school aged child, Kathryn journaled.  *Thank you to the teacher that instilled this practice in her at an early age. I salute you!*  It was such a great source of therapy for her, to sit and write what was happening in her life and how she felt. Her journal entries were of her talking to God.

Ok, back to Kathryn changing her life, after she prayed on her knees for help, she started going to meditation groups, yoga retreats, she studied Kabballah and Buddhism. She loved angels, crystals and tarot cards.  But she always saw Jesus when she closed her eyes in mediation.

A few years later, she met Jon. He was Jewish. They bonded over their spiritual beliefs. She got married in a Japanese garden with a non-denominational pastor and she smashed the glass (Jewish tradition). They had children, and she did get them baptized. She knew this was important somehow but didn’t really know why.  They moved to Florida and her Jewish husband became a follower of Jesus (that’s a whole other fascinating story of how that happened). But, as he started learning about the teachings of Jesus, he would share with them.  They started going to a local church.  Then started having family meetings. The foundation was laid. 

However, she couldn’t read the Bible. She couldn’t understand it, or it didn’t interest me at all. It was overwhelming.  So, she relied on Jon to share with her what he was reading or learning.  And this is how she’s been ever since.

Kathryn has been in groups of women who can recite scripture like nothing she’s ever seen.  It’s beautiful.  It’s over her head. But she loves the way it makes her feel when they recite it.  She had seen several series before on the stories of the Bible and while they were interesting, it was fragmented, and she still never really understood who was who.

Enter “THE CHOSEN”.

The miniseries produced by Derral Eves and Dallas Jenkins. For the first time in Kathryn’s whole life, it all makes sense! Pieces of the puzzle are fitting. The stories, the disciples, the places. It’s like all the sudden, she sees in technicolor!!! When I found out she was interviewing Derral Eves, the Executive Producer of “The Chosen”, she was so excited.  He did not disappoint.  Kathryn doesn’t know where you are in your spiritual walk, but she knows this interview will have something in it for you.  No matter what your faith or background.  Oh and P.S… This episode kicks off Jon and Kathryn doing podcasts interviews together. They will still have guests they interview separately, but anytime they think when they have a guest or message both their audiences will enjoy, they will do a collab!