Two people who met at church, both broken, both in need — and found each other there. Today Pastor Mike brings in his most personal guest yet: his wife Cristi. Together they unpack what real connection actually requires, and it turns out it's not having it together. It's being willing to admit that you don't. Cristi brings a perspective that's easy to miss in a recovery-focused podcast — she's not an alcoholic, doesn't come from an alcoholic family, and still finds the Daily Ripples speaking directly to her life every single day. Because brokenness is brokenness, in any form.

The stone for today: Human connection rarely begins with perfection. It begins with shared weakness. When I stop pretending to have it all together, real fellowship becomes possible.

Read today's full Daily Ripple at www.dailyripples.com — and we'd love to hear from you. Reach out any time at wave@dailyripples.com.

Daily Ripples is a daily devotional reflection connecting recovery principles with the life of faith. New episodes every day at dailyripples.com.

Deception rarely starts as a big lie. It starts as a small one — like a kid on a scooter faking a scraped knee to draw attention away from the friend he just hurt. Today Corey goes solo and gets bracingly honest about honesty itself: how it doesn't come naturally, why self-appraisal alone is never enough, and what it actually took — the steps, a sponsor, another human being willing to sit with him through the work — to learn how to live in the truth. Corey at his most unfiltered, and well worth the listen.

The stone for today: Deception rarely begins with others — it begins within. When I distort reality to protect my image or comfort, I slowly lose touch with truth.

Read today's full Daily Ripple at www.dailyripples.com — and we'd love to hear from you. Reach out any time at wave@dailyripples.com.

Daily Ripples is a daily devotional reflection connecting recovery principles with the life of faith. New episodes every day at dailyripples.com.

Fear doesn't always look like fear. It shows up as anger, resentment, control, isolation — and if you've been carrying it long enough, it starts to feel normal. In today's solo episode, Pastor Mike gets personal about what fear actually is — not just an emotion, but a soul-sickness that distorts the lens through which we see God, other people, and ourselves. The good news? You don't have to be fearless. You just have to be courageous. And those are very different things.

The stone for today: Fear grows where love is absent. When I allow fear to dominate my thinking, it distorts my view of God, others, and even myself. Love restores clarity.

Read today's full Daily Ripple at www.dailyripples.com — and we'd love to hear from you. Reach out any time at wave@dailyripples.com.

Daily Ripples is a daily devotional reflection connecting recovery principles with the life of faith. New episodes every day at dailyripples.com.

There's a difference between a reaction and a response — and that gap is where freedom lives. On Larry's final day as guest co-host, he and Pastor Mike land on something worth sitting with: when you react to someone, they're actually in control of what you say and do. But when you pause and respond from who you truly are, your words belong to you again. Mike adds a recovery room classic — a 33-year veteran once told him to take the cotton out of his ears and put it in his mouth. Sometimes the wisest move is to stop talking and start listening.

The stone for today: Anger can feel powerful, even justified. Yet when it lingers, it slowly corrodes the heart. What begins as a reaction can become a habit that shapes how I see the world.

Read today's full Daily Ripple at www.dailyripples.com — and we'd love to hear from you. Reach out any time at wave@dailyripples.com.

Daily Ripples is a daily devotional reflection connecting recovery principles with the life of faith. New episodes every day at dailyripples.com.

Anger is almost never really about what it looks like on the surface. Today Pastor Mike and Larry — two United Methodist pastors working through it like the rest of us — dig into what anger actually is: a secondary emotion, usually rooted in fear. Larry brings a simple but powerful tool: get curious. Ask what's going on in you before you react to what's going on out there. And Mike adds a recovery lens that maps cleanly onto the same idea — the Step 10 inventory, that daily habit of looking at where the resentment is really coming from. The answer, almost always, is closer to home than we'd like.

The stone for today: Resentment binds the heart. When anger is nursed and protected, it slowly darkens the inner life and blocks the peace God intends.

Read today's full Daily Ripple at www.dailyripples.com — and we'd love to hear from you. Reach out any time at wave@dailyripples.com.

Daily Ripples is a daily devotional reflection connecting recovery principles with the life of faith. New episodes every day at dailyripples.com.

Holding a resentment doesn't hurt the person you're holding it against — it hurts you. And here's the thing nobody tells you: you might be the only one still in the room. Today Pastor Mike and his friend Larry — two pastors, two perspectives — dig into why releasing resentment is less about the other person and more about putting down luggage that was never yours to carry in the first place. If someone has already worked it out with God and moved on, and you're still holding it, you're just carrying around their trash. And the way out? You just keep saying it until it's true.

The stone for today: Resentment quietly poisons the soul. When I replay old injuries, I keep the wound alive and allow bitterness to shape my heart.

Read today's full Daily Ripple at www.dailyripples.com — and we'd love to hear from you. Reach out any time at wave@dailyripples.com.

Daily Ripples is a daily devotional reflection connecting recovery principles with the life of faith. New episodes every day at dailyripples.com.

Today's a special one — you're getting a double episode. Corey, Zach, and Bill recorded their take on the ripple, and Pastor Mike sat down separately with another friend named Larry to do the same (apparently, he only knows other elders named "Larry"). Two conversations, one stone. Because self-pity deserves to be surrounded.

The stone for today: Self-pity feels comforting at first, but it slowly narrows my world. The more I focus on my own wounds, the less I see the needs and struggles of others.

Read today's full Daily Ripple at www.dailyripples.com — and we'd love to hear from you. Reach out any time at wave@dailyripples.com.

Daily Ripples is a daily devotional reflection connecting recovery principles with the life of faith. New episodes every day at dailyripples.com.

When destructive patterns rule your thinking, you don't even realize the choices you're no longer making. Today Corey, Bill, and Zach dig into what it actually means to pause before acting on impulse — and whether our patterns are better understood as destructive habits or simply the past experience we keep running on autopilot. The conversation goes deep on the gap between thoughts and actions, the difference between the third and seventh step prayers, and what it looks like when wisdom finally starts to grow where impulse once ruled. Also: Zach figures out what the stone actually is, and Pastor Mike could not resist jumping in.

The stone for today: When destructive patterns rule my thinking, I lose the ability to choose wisely. What feels normal in the moment can slowly distort judgment and lead me away from truth.

Read today's full Daily Ripple at www.dailyripples.com — and we'd love to hear from you. Reach out any time at wave@dailyripples.com.

Daily Ripples is a daily devotional reflection connecting recovery principles with the life of faith. New episodes every day at dailyripples.com.