August 16 – The Harm of Absence

The Daily Ripples Podcast · Aug 16, 2026 · 22m · transcript

Pastor Mike takes Sunday solo with a turn most amends lists never make. We reach for the scenes when we sit down with that pen — the argument, the thing we broke, the money we took, the night everybody else remembers even when we can't. Every one of those has a beginning, an end, and usually a witness. This one asks about the empty chair beside the hospital bed, the call never made to someone struggling, the friend in a waiting room watching a door that never opened. An action leaves evidence; an absence leaves a space, and a space makes no sound at all. People adjust, learn you're someone…