How to Stay Christian When Everything Seems Awful
The Esau McCaulley Podcast
Esau McCaulley
5.0 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 May 2026
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Faith can feel easy at the beginning, but what happens when you're stuck in the long middle? Tired, cynical, and wondering why God feels far away? Esau is joined by Tish Harrison Warren to talk about her new book, What Grows in Weary Lands: On Christian Resilience, and why perseverance is more than just spiritual grit. They discuss burnout, doubt, the exhaustion of public faith, the temptation to start over, and why staying put might be one of the most countercultural Christian practices left.
0:00 - Theme Song
1:02 - What Grows in Weary Lands
5:22 - Leaving the New York Times
24:47 - "Middle Stories"
49:12 - End Credits
What Grows in Wear Lands: On Christian Resilience by Tish Harrison Warren: https://amzn.to/4o0FwqE
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone, welcome to the Esau McCauley podcast. I'm your host, Issaa McCauley. Today we're joined by producer Mike. Mike, it's good to have you on the podcast again. It's great to be here. I say it's good to have you on the podcast. Like you're not here every single. It's like I have a, I don't have a choice. And we're blessed. was probably having one of my best friends on the podcast, Tish Harrison Warren. |
| 0:24.6 | Well, Like you're not here every single way. It's like I have a, I don't have a choice. And we're blessed with probably having one of my best friends on the podcast, Tish Harrison Warren. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Best, I thought I was your best friend. I said one of. I mean, I said one of. I didn't say, I didn't say. We'll talk about this after the podcast. She's in the top. I mean, like, she's high. Yeah, I believe that. Can we talk about her book? Yes, let's do that. I'm in the circle of trust. |
| 0:40.6 | In the circle of trust. after the podcast. She's in the top. I mean, like, she's high. Yeah, I believe that. Can we talk about |
| 0:38.4 | her book? Yes. Let's do that. I'm in the circle of trust. In the circle of trust. Author of the, by the way, before we start, though, because they got to, you know, so me and Tisha, our families, so the Warrens and their colleagues, we've done vacations together. We've been to Florida. |
| 0:53.8 | Wow. |
| 0:54.2 | Right. |
| 0:55.4 | And then she came |
| 0:56.0 | and they came and they stay with us for a couple of days when they, in the, whatever we are, in the Midwest. |
| 1:02.3 | But anyways, she's, this is Tici Ayrson Warren, author of the book, where it grows and weary lands on |
| 1:07.4 | Christian resilience. I can't say this again. What grows in weird. |
| 1:11.0 | I can never read. |
| 1:12.1 | What grows in root. I can't say the word weird. Tish wrote a new book, y'all. Can I say that? Can I say the title? Yes. Hey, Tish, what's the title of your new book? The W's get me weary. Weary. Sorry. Go ahead, Tish. What is the name of your new book? |
| 1:28.2 | My new book, for those |
| 1:30.6 | searching for it, you have no idea what Isal just said. What grows in weary lands and the |
| 1:39.6 | subtitles on Christian resilience. Can I speak to you about like an unrelated portion of Christian resilience for me? |
| 1:48.0 | Yeah. |
| 1:49.0 | So. |
| 1:50.0 | Saying my title. |
| 1:51.0 | Yeah. |
| 1:52.0 | There we go. |
| 1:53.0 | Keep going. |
| 1:54.0 | So I don't know what you all had planned for the last couple of weeks, but you know where I was? |
... |
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