Exempla

In 1828, veteran missionary Adoniram Judson left everyone and everything to move into a small hut deep in the jungle. But even when paralyzing grief drove Judson to the brink of despair, his life and ministry were not over. His story holds a lesson for us about the challenges of grief and how we can gently point others to the hope that is always available in God. Pictures/sources/transcript: exemplapodcast.com/2025/09/27/a-dark-pit-in-the-jungle-replay/

Did you know that the author of Sherlock Holmes believed in fairies? He even wrote a book about it, detailing the supposed photographing of fairies by a couple of girls in a small English town. But how could such a smart man be so gullible? This “fairy tale” holds a lesson for all of us about why we believe what we believe and how to guard against falling for lies. exemplapodcast.com/2025/09/13/arthur-conan-doyles-fairies-replay/

How much would you pay for a pineapple? For aristocrats in 17th and 18th century England and France, money was no object when it came to having and displaying pineapples. I want to tell you how that happened and share a lesson about how we view God’s good gifts. Sources/transcript: exemplapodcast.com/2025/08/30/the-pineapple-craze-replay/

I told a group of kids the story of young boy being saved from a fire. I was not prepared for how deeply my son would be affected by that story. It made me feel like a bad father, but over the next few days, I learned a valuable lesson about telling others things they don’t want to hear. Pictures/Transcript: exemplapodcast.com/2025/08/09/a-hard-story-to-hear-replay/

Godtfred Kirk Christiansen is responsible for turning LEGOs into a global phenomenon. But when Godtfred’s father first told him about his idea for a plastic building block, Godtfred thought it was a terrible idea. In this replay from season 2, there’s a lesson for us about humility and letting go of our obsession with fault-finding and blame. Pictures/source/transcript: exemplapodcast.com/2025/07/19/the-man-who-hated-legos-replay/