Things Above

Things Above


Latest Episodes

Conversation with Richella Parham
February 19, 2020

In this episode, James Bryan Smith has a Things Above Conversation with longtime friend and author Richella Parham. She is the author of Mythical Me: Finding Freedom from Constant Comparison, published by InterVarsity Press (October 2019) and of the Re...

Commanded to Thrive
February 12, 2020

James Bryan Smith begins this episode by sharing a story from Deuteronomy 30:15-19. In this passage, Moses offers some powerful words at the end of his farewell address. Moses essentially says: I have told you about God’s commands and,

Brighter Than the Sun
February 05, 2020

In this episode of the Things Above podcast, James Bryan Smith gives this thought from above: “God is happy about you.” When Jim’s son Jacob was around 7 years old he asked him a question that brought tears to Jim’s eyes.

Conversation with Derwin Gray
January 22, 2020

James Bryan Smith has a conversation with Derwin Gray about our identity in Christ and how we can learn to love and see ourselves the same way God does. Labels you have internalized and apply to yourself every day. Labels like Afraid. Or Addict.

Grace of God
January 15, 2020

The thought from above in this episode is: “You don’t have to make it happen.” In the summer of his junior year, James attended an elite basketball camp where he learned a very valuable lesson about the grace of God.

Roots in the Future
January 08, 2020

What will the future be like? Will it be good? What will happen to us at the end of lives? These are questions we all want an answer to. Deep down we desire a future for ourselves and others that is good. But how do we know that in the end it will be g...

Conversation with Casey Tygrett
December 04, 2019

In this “Things Above Conversation” James Bryan Smith chats with Casey Tygrett. Casey is the host of the “otherWISE” podcast, a place for gathering wise conversations about living well on the journey with Jesus.

Superstition
November 20, 2019

The “Thought from Above” for this episode is: “No more silly superstitions.” In a previous podcast James spoke about how worry is essentially superstition. We think by worrying we will actually have an effect on a situation we are concerned about.

Brother’s Keeper
November 13, 2019

The “Thought from Above” in this episode is: Include Jesus in all of your relationships. The relationships we have in our lives are amazing but also challenging. There are times where we want the other person in the relationship to make a change in the...

Conversation with A.J. Swoboda
November 06, 2019

In this episode, James Bryan Smith sits down with A.J. Swoboda for a Things Above Conversation. A.J. is the author of “Subversive Sabbath” which was Christianity Today’s Spiritual formation book of the year.