In today’s newsletter, let’s revisit the story of Lazarus… but with a twist. When Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb, He doesn’t tell Lazarus to unwrap his own grave clothes. He tells the people around him to do it. It’s a picture of how healing actually works: we all carry “death wrappings” – old wounds, lies, and baggage – long after we’ve been made new, and we were never meant to unbind ourselves alone.

The use of AI is very controversial in our society, and especially the Christian community. Let me share a little bit about my perspective of AI…

We used AI to generate the visual settings and voice audio for this video, but every word of the content is mine. AI is a powerful tool for analysis, organization, grammar-checking, and grunt work. But when it comes to psychology, theology, or psychiatry, we believe that content must be written by people, not AI.

I wrote the script myself. Then, with the skill and guidance of our talented videographer, Wayne Leman (www.fullaltitude.com), AI was used to generate the audio (using recordings of my own voice) and the visual scenes he prompted it to create. We saved a lot of money and were able to more closely depict God’s Bible story and healing message with AI assistance for storytelling, not content generation.

At Honey Lake Clinic, our electronic health record (EHR) also uses AI. It helps produce reports, analyze sessions, and generate summaries, and it lets us quickly search a large chart for notes, lab results, emergency contacts, and more. But we never let AI in the EHR generate content or interpret what’s in a patient’s chart.

Just as a calculator handles long division, or Word replaced the typewriter and the pencil, AI can speed up tasks. But AI will never carry the Holy Spirit the way a Christian therapist does, bringing both God’s wisdom and psychological expertise to move you forward on your healing journey.

RENEW & REWIRE Reflection Questions

1. What “death wrappings” – psychological baggage such as old wounds, false beliefs, emotional struggles – do you notice still restricting how you see, move, or think, even in seasons where you feel spiritually alive?
2. Jesus told the people around Lazarus to unbind him, not Lazarus to unbind himself.
   • Who has God placed in your life to help unbind you?
   • Are you letting them in to truly help you unbind?
   • Who has God placed in your life for you to help unbind them?
   • What are you doing to be intentional about helping them?
3. What would it look like this week to trade isolation – where Satan can more easily devour you – for one honest, vulnerable conversation about something you’re carrying?