Well, hey, friends, this is Julie Slattery, and you're listening to Java with Julie.

This podcast is an outreach of authentic intimacy, a ministry dedicated to reclaiming God's design for sexuality.

I'm really intrigued by today's conversation that I'm going to be sharing with you.

My guest is Lori Ferguson Wilbert,

and she wrote an amazing book on the topic of touch. It's called Handle with Care.

And friends, when I read through this book, I really enjoyed it because I realize as Christians,

we've become very weary of touch. At church and friendships and dating relationships,

even marriages struggle with knowing the

difference between intimate touch and sexual touch. Both within our Christian community and in the

larger culture, touch has been sexualized. But that's not what we see when we look at how

powerfully Jesus used touch in his life and ministry. So today, Lori and I are going to talk about

how intimacy and sex aren't the same thing. It's so important to be able to discern the difference.

We'll talk about why avoiding touch or just not touching people isn't the same thing as keeping yourself

pure. And Lori's going to share how Jesus so beautifully modeled risk and vulnerability for us.

Think about it.

He allowed his body to be touched beautifully and purely and also wickedly while he walked

with us here on earth.

We'll link to the book Handel with Care as well as Lori's blog, Sayable, and our show notes.

Now let's listen into my conversation

with Lori Ferguson Wilburton. Well, Lori, thanks so much for joining me for Java with Julie.

Yeah, thank you for having me. I am really excited to share you with The Job with Julie audience and this book that you've written, Handle with Care.

And I tell our listeners that I read a lot of books, and there aren't many books that I just want to dive into cover to cover.

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