#20: Storytelling, Faith, and the Creative Pivot with Leanne Huffman

#24: The F Word: Why Friendship Is So Hard for Men

Walk With Us This whole conversation is the why behind Ruck the Way. We started this because we believe friendship doesn't grow at desk-speed or scroll-speed—it grows at three miles an hour, on a trail, with a pack on your back and someone walking beside you. Join a Pilgrimage: New dates dropping soon. → rucktheway.com/pilgrimage [http://rucktheway.com/pilgrimage] Subscribe to the Podcast: Wherever you listen, hit follow so you don't miss what's next. → rucktheway.com/podcast [http://rucktheway.com/podcast] Get the Newsletter: Slower than a feed. Better for your soul. → rucktheway.com/newsletter-signup [http://rucktheway.com/newsletter-signup] Support the Mission: Ruck the Way is a project of East Mountain Greenville. All gifts are tax-deductible. → Give Now Reach Out: Got a story, a question, or someone we should have on the show? → rucktheway.com/contact [http://rucktheway.com/contact] Friendship sounds like it should be the easy part of being human. It's not. In this conversation, Gabe and Chris pull up a chair next to one of the most painful, elusive, and unspoken realities men carry in their rucksacks: the longing for real friendship—and the disappointment when it doesn't come, or when it fades, or when it breaks. From the Facebookization of "friend" to the cutting-room-floor lives we hide behind curated highlight reels, from the gated country-club neighborhoods of Charlotte to the caste-stratified high schools of the UK, the guys name why building real friendship as a grown man is so much harder than it should be. They borrow from C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (whose own legendary friendship broke down in their later years), they lean on Lewis's The Four Loves, and they pull from John Hendrix's beautiful graphic novel The Mythmakers to show that even the giants of the faith struggled with this. Then they get practical. Three rails to run on if you're lonely, longing, or just stuck: side-by-side, vulnerability, and invitation. This isn't a how-to. It's gardening. You can't force a tomato to grow—but you can cultivate the soil. If you've ever sat with the quiet ache of I don't really have any friends right now, this one's for you. You're not alone. And there's nothing wrong with you. Mentioned in This Episode The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien by John Hendrix — the graphic novel Chris references throughout The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis — especially the chapter on philia, brotherly love The Inklings, the Eagle and Child pub (a.k.a. "the Bird and Baby") in Oxford The Lord of the Rings & Lewis's secret 1961 Nobel Prize nomination of Tolkien

#23: The Cost of Not Telling the Truth with Lorenzo Monge

UPCOMING PILGRIMAGE: https://www.rucktheway.com/pilgrimage [https://www.rucktheway.com/pilgrimage] Some people show up in your life with a story so layered you can't quite hold all of it at once. Lorenzo Monge is one of those people. He's been a pastor, a church planter, a youth worker, a clothing designer, a musician, a bodyguard. Today he's a military chaplain serving the French armed forces in French Guiana — the slice of France that sits on the northern edge of South America, surrounded by the Amazon. The week before this conversation, he crossed the equator on a Navy ship with a thousand soldiers, got sunburned in patterns that look like ugly frames around his eyes, and came home to sit down with two friends who have walked a lot of road with him over the years. Chris met Lorenzo twenty years ago in Charlotte. He and his family then moved to France and spent ten years planting a church alongside Lorenzo and his wife Marie-Lise — a friendship built so completely in English that even after Chris became fluent in French, the two of them never switched. Gabe and Lorenzo share a different thread: both men have lived the strange seam between ministry and military, just in opposite directions. This conversation lives in that seam — what God does in the space between who you were and who you are becoming. What follows is a conversation about pain you can't outrun. About the news Lorenzo received at age 48 that rearranged his understanding of his own life, one month before he deployed to the desert for four months. About what it costs men — in churches, in marriages, in uniforms — to refuse the truth. And about why the chaplain who serves Special Forces operators isn't afraid to tell a hardened soldier, eyes locked in, exactly who he's been. If you've been carrying something heavy and pretending you aren't, this one is for you. Lace up. Come walk with us. Walked Through in This Episode Scriptures, ideas, and references that came up along the way: John 16:33 — "In this world you will have trouble." The promise from Jesus that Lorenzo says nobody puts on their wall, and the one that may matter most. John 17 — "In the world but not of it." The frame Lorenzo uses for chaplaincy: standing in the same danger as the men he serves, but a step outside the chain of command. Luke 17:10 — "We are unworthy servants." Lorenzo's quiet reminder of what a pastor actually is: someone who washes dirty feet. The seam metaphor — Gabe's frame for transition: the space in your story where one stretch of fabric becomes another. The space of becoming. The November 2015 Paris attacks — The moment that turned Lorenzo from pastor to chaplain. Worth remembering as you listen.

#22: On Rest — Vacation, Holiday, and the Holy Day We Keep Forgetting | Ruck The Way Podcast

Coming up — Mini Pilgrimage in Charlotte Saturday, May 16 · 9:00 AM · McDowell Nature Preserve A taste of what Ruck the Way is all about — walking, community, and a moment set apart. Chris is flying in from Scotland. The kilt has been promised. Bring your kids. Bring your dog. Bring a friend. This is also our official US launch event for Ruck the Way as a nonprofit. Food, fellowship, and a real mini pilgrimage experience. RSVP and details: www.rucktheway.com [http://www.rucktheway.com] One small step If this episode found you tired and you don't know where to start, here's the invitation Gabe and Chris leave us with: Pick one thing. Cut work off at six. Block a Sunday on the calendar. Plan two weeks off — actually plan it. Or just sit with the questions: What do I believe will happen if I rest? Is that really true? Grace, kindness, curiosity. That's the pace. Gabe and Chris sit down (well, Gabe sits, Chris is in Scotland, and the dog is wandering the studio) for an honest conversation about something neither of them claims to have figured out: rest. This one is less a "how-to" and more a "we're-in-this-with-you." Two friends, three cups of coffee, one wandering dog, and a long look at why rest is so hard — and so necessary — in a culture wired for constant output. What we get into Why "vacation" (from the Latin vacare, to be unoccupied) is defined by what it isn't — and why that might be part of the problem "Holiday" as holy day — a time set apart, not just emptied out What the French and the Scots understand about rest that most Americans don't The uncomfortable origin of retirement at 65 (spoiler: it wasn't about your flourishing) Sabbath as something baked into creation — not a suggestion, but a rhythm The Shemitah, the Babylonian exile, and what happens when we refuse to let things rest Why we don't work toward rest — we work out of it The deep difference between absence-of-work and reconnection-with-life Honest confessions about boundaries, the church on Sundays, and why two weeks off matters more than one Small steps for people who feel like rest is impossibly far away A few lines worth sitting with "We're meant to enter into work out of rest — not work our way into it." "Perfect is the enemy of good in this case. Take a step." "Let the walk do the work." Mentioned in this episode The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath by Mark Buchanan — the book Gabe references on entering work out of rest rather than collapsing into it The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel (1951) — the modern classic on Sabbath as a "cathedral in time," and the source of the story Gabe shares about Heschel's daughter remembering Friday night Shabbat meals and her father floating in the pool The liturgical season of Ordinary Time — green, unhurried, often overlooked The Jewish practice of the Shemitah — every seventh year, the land rests

#21: Future-Proofing Your Faith: AI, Innovation, and the Redemptive Call of the Church

Mark Your Calendar: Ruck the Way Launch Party Join Gabe, Chris, and friends for a mini pilgrimage experience in the Charlotte, NC area: Date: Saturday, May 16 Cost: Free Details: rucktheway.com [http://rucktheway.com] (Yes, Chris will be wearing a kilt. He promised.) Connect with Dr. Noah Manyika Website: noahmanyika.com [http://noahmanyika.com] Books on Amazon: Redeeming Sundar: Faith and Innovation in the Age of AI The Challenge of Leadership: Is There Not a Cause? Prevail: Reclaiming the Divinity of Our Humanity Kitchen Copilot: kitchencopilot.com [http://kitchencopilot.com] — download the app and start planning meals with intention What does it look like for the church to engage AI not with fear, but with faith? In this wide-ranging conversation, Gabe and Chris sit down with Dr. Noah Manyika — a man whose life refuses to fit in a box. Born in colonial-era Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), educated at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, and now leading a tech company at the intersection of health, food, and AI, Noah brings a rare combination of pastoral depth, global perspective, and entrepreneurial clarity. From the soil of Rhodesia to the launchpad of Artemis, from the demise of the Christian bookstore to the rise of ChatGPT, Noah challenges believers to stop being "culture-bound" and start building the future God has called us to steward. This is a conversation about parenting, legacy, leadership, technology, and the unflinching belief that nothing is impossible for those who walk by faith. Dr. Noah Manyika (00:00) Welcome and introductions (02:00) Born in Rhodesia: the family that built Noah's belief system (05:00) Where is Rhodesia? Geography, colonial rule, and the shaping of a worldview (08:00) Parenting advice: training kids up in the way they should go (13:00) "My umbilical cord is buried in this soil" — rootedness and takeoff (17:00) The Artemis metaphor: what to carry, what to shed (19:00) Where America is culture-bound: entitlement, victimhood, and missing the speed of life (23:00) Georgetown, Madeleine Albright, and a missionary calling (27:00) The story behind Redeeming Sundar — and who Sundar is (34:00) Why the church reacts with fear instead of faith (43:00) Future-proofing your faith (47:00) Redemptive entrepreneurship and the unspoken fear behind institutional decline (56:00) The cautionary tale of the Christian bookstore (01:00:00) A word for parents raising kids in an AI-disrupted future (01:03:00) Kitchen Copilot: redemptive innovation in your kitchen (01:06:00) Where to find Noah's books and the Ruck the Way launch event If This Episode Moved You… Subscribe to the Ruck the Way podcast wherever you listen Leave a review — it helps these conversations reach more people Share this episode with a leader, parent, or believer who needs to hear it And as always — let the walk do the work.

#20: Storytelling, Faith, and the Creative Pivot with Leanne Huffman

UPCOMING PILGRIMAGE: https://www.rucktheway.com/pilgrimage [https://www.rucktheway.com/pilgrimage] In this conversation, Gabe and Chris welcome Leanne Huffman — calling in from California at 5 AM — for a wide-ranging discussion about storytelling, faith, creativity, and the holy work of pivoting when life doesn't go as planned. Leanne is the editor of Gabe's forthcoming book, but as Gabe shares, she's also a professional storyteller across multiple mediums: acting, poetry, and now novel writing. What unfolds is one of the more thoughtful conversations the show has hosted — a meditation on what it means to live a creative life as a person of faith, how failure shapes us, and why humility might be the most underrated virtue in any industry. Leanne Huffman is an actress, poet, and novelist based in Los Angeles. A pastor's kid from Central California, she pursued acting in LA and has worked across film and short-form projects. She's also a professional book editor and is currently completing both a poetry collection and a romance novel. Her first acting role? Playing baby Jesus in a church Christmas production — a tough opening act, as Gabe pointed out. Connect with Leanne Website: http://www.leannehuffman.com/ [http://www.leannehuffman.com/] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leannehuffmanactor/ [https://www.instagram.com/leannehuffmanactor/] YouTube: Search "Leanne Huffman" for her short films and acting work IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4022129/ [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4022129/] Look out for her upcoming poetry collection and romance novel 0:00 - Introduction to Leanne Huffman 5:20 - The connection between rucking and faith 12:45 - Lessons learned on the trails of Scotland 18:30 - Navigating seasons of spiritual "wilderness" 25:15 - The importance of community in the pilgrimage 32:10 - How to start your own spiritual rucking practice 39:45 - Overcoming physical and mental barriers 47:00 - The role of daily prayer in endurance 54:30 - Leanne’s most impactful scripture for the journey 1:02:15 - Final words of encouragement and wrap-up Know more about our cause: https://www.rucktheway.com/ [https://www.rucktheway.com/] Subscribe to our Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@RucktheWay [https://www.youtube.com/@RucktheWay] Meet the founders: https://www.rucktheway.com/about [https://www.rucktheway.com/about]