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).
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:
EstherEmery.com Facebook Twitter (@EstherEmery) YouTube InstagramFor additional show notes, visit ShaunTabatt.com/111.
