Welcome to The Shaun Tabatt Show! Today I speak with Esther Emery about her recent book What Falls from the Sky: How I Disconnected from the Internet and Reconnected with the God Who Made the Clouds (Zondervan, 2016).
- Listen to it on iTunes
- Stream by clicking here
- Download as MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “Save Link As”
Here’s what you’ll learn in today’s interview:
- The Esther Emery origin story. (01:25 – 02:48)
- How a phone call led to an impulse idea to spend a year off the internet and write a book about the experience. (02:49 – 05:06)
- Identity crisis and withdrawal symptoms that quickly emerged after disconnecting from the web. (05:07 – 07:56)
- New experiences and routines that began to fill in the gaps that were previously consumed by time online?(07:57 – 10:07)
- Shifts in Esther’s marriage during this season. (10:08 – 13:16)
- Changes in motherhood and parenting. (13:17 – 15:09)
- Rediscovering God and a “surprise” missions trip to Nicaragua. (15:10 – 18:24)
- The importance of seasons in the year-long journey without internet. (18:25 – 20:37)
- What Esther would like to see every reader do after finishing the book. (20:38 – 22:22)
- Esther is back on the web these days, but she’ll never go back to how she was before. (22:23 – 24:31)
- Moving from Boston back to Idaho and how her family ended up living in a yurt. (24:32 – 26:03)
- Unique challenges and surprises living off the grid in a yurt. (26:04 – 28:29)
- What has it been like to essentially live out your mother’s dream and vision for the back to the land movement? (28:30 – 31:00)
- Where to connect with Esther and find her book online. (31:01 – 31:42)
About the Book: Esther Emery was a successful playwright and theater director, wife and mother, and loving it all – until, suddenly, she wasn’t. When a personal and professional crisis of spectacular extent leaves her reeling, Esther is left empty, alone in her marriage, and grasping for identity that does not define itself by busyness and a breakneck pace of life. Something had to be done.
What Falls from the Sky is Esther’s fiercely honest, piercingly poetic account of a year without Internet – 365 days away from the good, the bad, and the ugly of our digital lives – in one woman’s desperate attempt at a reset. Esther faces her addiction to electronica, her illusion of self-importance, and her longing to return to simpler days, but then the unexpected happens. Her experiment in analog is hijacked by a spiritual awakening, and Esther finds herself suddenly, inexplicably drawn to the faith she had rejected for so long.
Ultimately, Esther’s unplugged pilgrimage brings her to a place where she finally finds the peace – and the God who created it – she has been searching for all along.
What Falls from the Sky offers a path for you to do the same. For all the ways the Internet makes you feel enriched and depleted, genuinely connected and wildly insufficient, What Falls from the Sky reveals a new way to look up from your screens and live with palms wide open in a world brimming with the good gifts of God.
About the Author: Esther Emery used to direct stage plays in Southern California. But that was a long time ago. Now she lives with her husband and three children off the grid in a yurt, tending to three acres in the foothills of Idaho’s Rocky Mountains. She writes about faith and trying to live a fearless, free life at www.estheremery.com.
Connect with Esther:
Order your copy of What Falls from the Sky:
Other Books Mentioned in this Episode:
Join the e-mail list:
Subscribe to the Podcast:
The Shaun Tabatt Show is syndicated over a wide range of distribution networks. Choose your favorite and subscribe.
- Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
- Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)
- Click Here to Subscribe via Stitcher Radio
- Click Here to Subscribe via Player FM
- Click Here to Subscribe via TuneIn
- Click Here to Subscribe via Google Play
- Click Here to Subscribe via Overcast
Share the Love:
If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show.
© Shaun Tabatt and ShaunTabatt.com, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Shaun Tabatt and ShaunTabatt.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.