Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to The Upside Down Podcast — a feel-good show about creativity, kindness, and seeing the world a little differently. Inspired by Alyssa’s debut children’s book, Ethan & the Upside Down Sandwich, each episode dives into stories that celebrate individuality, imagination, and the courage to be yourself.
Join Alyssa — photographer, author, mom, and community theater heart — as she chats with artists, teachers, and everyday dreamers about how they turn their “upside-down” moments into something beautiful. Through laughter, storytelling, and heartfelt conversation, this podcast reminds us that the best ingredient in life (and sandwiches) is kindness. 💛
Whether you’re a parent, creative, educator, or just someone who believes in the power of being uniquely you — pull up a chair and stay awhile. You’re in for something special.
Alyssa Burks (00:09)
Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of the Upside Down podcast, where we flip the world's expectations upside down and we look at life through kindness and compassion in the eye of Jesus. I'm your host Alyssa, and I am so glad that you're here with me today.
Today, we're talking about something that runs deep in my heart. Loving and accepting every single person, no matter their background, no matter their gender, their race, their abilities, their differences, or the labels that the world puts on them. Not because the world says we should, but because Jesus himself did. I want to start with a visual that God placed on my heart. Close your eyes for a minute and picture just a big, long, light dinner table.
Not like a please don't touch anything table, like a worn out, well used table, The table is filled with people. At one end sits a fisherman with rough and calloused hands. Next to him is a woman with a past so heavy that she's still trying to hide her face. And across from her is a religious scholar who thinks he knows more than everybody else.
At the far end sits someone who doesn't look like anyone else there. Maybe their clothes are different, their culture is different, maybe even their beliefs are different. There's a child who's wiggling in their seat and someone else keeps to themselves because they're unsure if they even belong.
And right there in the middle of all of them sits Jesus. He's not dividing them into groups. He's not correcting their differences. He's not assigning values to the ones who fit or look the part. He is passing bread.
pouring water, laughing gently, looking into the eyes of each person as if they are the only one at that table. This table is the kingdom of God, and it's what our tables should reflect.
This is the table where everyone, absolutely everyone has a seat. One of the things that I love most about Jesus and being in the Word and getting to know Him more is that He never limited His love to people who looked like Him, people who talked like Him or dressed like Him or even believed like Him.
He went to the Samaritan woman, someone that his culture literally avoided. He touched the leper, someone who no one else would dare get near. He called Zacchaeus a man hated by his community. He welcomed the children, the very ones that the disciples themselves tried to push away. He invited women to follow him, something that shocked his
He healed a Roman soldier's servant, someone from the wrong group. He told stories where the outsider was the hero, like the good Samaritan. Everywhere that Jesus went, he broke down walls. He erased borders. He refused to let culture decide who was worthy of his attention. The kingdom of God really is upside down from everything that we see around us in our world.
The world says, choose your group, pick your side. Jesus says, follow me and love them all. Let's be honest, we all carry labels. Sometimes they're labels that we put on ourselves. Sometimes they're handed to us by others. Some were spoken over us. Some were put on us because of our background, our gender, our race, our past, our job, our trauma, our differences, our skin color.
And sometimes those labels feel like they define us. But scripture tells a different story. 1 Samuel 16, 7 says, man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
Jesus never stopped at the surface. He looked beyond the label, beyond the stereotype, beyond the reputation, the past, the sin.
the world told about someone, he looked straight into the heart. And if Jesus did that, then as his followers, we are called to look beyond surface differences too.
As many of you know, my book, Ethan and the Inside Out Sandwich comes from a place deep inside my heart. This desire for kids to not just be tolerated, but to be embraced for everything that makes them them, by their peers, by their friends, by their families, and by their teachers, and by the adults around them, and by the world. Ethan, my main character, is a quirky and imaginative little boy. Imaginative little boy. He sees food differently. He feels things intensely, and he thinks that
upside down is the best way to think. And that's part of why he's special. He kind of thinks outside of the box. But writing his story, opened my eyes to something bigger, it's that we're all a little bit upside down. We're all a little bit different. And our differences are God designed, but the world doesn't always celebrate that. And as a mom, as a former teacher and a person who loves children deeply, I've seen how much it matters.
when one adult chooses acceptance.
I have seen the kids sitting alone get invited in. I've seen the child who stims or moves differently be welcomed with kindness. I've seen the girl who wears a hijab sit next to the girl with a cross necklace and become friends. I've seen kids who speak different languages help each other to understand games on the playground. It's really fascinating. I've seen kids who look absolutely nothing alike treat each other as if they are identical twins.
like they're siblings, because kids do not struggle with differences until we teach them to. And sometimes as adults, we need to unlearn what we have absorbed from the world.
So let's talk about what acceptance really is and what it isn't. Acceptance is welcoming someone because they are made in the image of God. It's seeing their humanity before seeing their labels. It's listening to understand and not to judge. Making room at the table even when someone is different from you. Choosing compassion over comparison. Choosing unity over uniformity.
Leading with grace rather than with assumptions and loving without the need to fix someone first. Acceptance is not watering down your faith or agreeing with every belief that someone holds. It's not pretending that differences don't exist and it's not compromising your relationship with Jesus. It's not accepting harmful behavior or erasing boundaries. Acceptance means I see you the way that Christ sees you.
like someone that Jesus died for, because he did.
If I'm honest and if you're honest with yourself, we know this truth. Sometimes we as Christians have gotten this wrong. Sometimes we make people feel excluded, judged, unworthy.
Out of place, overlooked, unwelcome. And that breaks my heart. And I really hope it does yours too.
Because we should be the safe place. We should be the one place where every person feels like they can breathe deeply and feel safe. A Christ-centered community should look like open arms, soft eyes.
Listening hearts, room for the hurting, room for the different, room for the doubting. It should have room for those that are figuring out their faith and room for those who have been wounded.
room for the ones who don't fit the mold, and room for every race, every culture, every story, every human. Because heaven is going to be beautifully diverse.
Revelation 7, 9 says that people from every tribe, language, and nation will stand before God together. If heaven looks like that, shouldn't our love look like that too? Here are some intentional ways to live out Christ-centered acceptance in your everyday life.
Make the first move. Say hello. Ask a name. Start a conversation. Don't wait for the other person to prove themselves before you talk to them.
Be curious and not corrective. Ask questions instead of assuming. Say things like, tell me more about your story. Help me understand that. Or what's that experience been like for you? Don't assume that you know their differences. Be curious about their differences.
and then celebrate their differences because they should be. They should be celebrated. God didn't create us to be carbon copies. That would be boring. Differences are divine.
Choose compassion over comfort. Loving people who are different from us stretches us, and that is good thing. Teach your children acceptance through your actions.
Because kids imitate what they see. Let them see kindness. Let them see you sit with someone who's lonely. Let them see you help someone who looks differently than you or lives differently than you. Let them see love that looks like Jesus' love.
And pray for eyes like Christ. Every day in your prayers say, Lord, help me see people the way that you see them. Remember, your table is not full until every single person has a seat.
If you're listening today and you're somebody who has felt other than or not enough or too different or lost between worlds or misunderstood, I want you to hear this clearly.
You belong. You matter. You are loved by the God who handcrafted you on purpose. There is nothing about you that is an accident. You're not too much. You're not too messy. Your differences are not your flaws.
You are welcome at the table of Christ just the way you are. He doesn't love you in spite of who you are. He loves you because of who you are. You were made in his image, breathtakingly, intentionally, beautifully. This week, I wanna challenge you and myself really to do one thing. Make space for somebody, just anybody, somebody that you normally pass by. Invite someone new to your table, literally or figuratively.
Smile at the person who seems alone.
Sit with the person who has no one. Ask someone about their story. Choose compassion over comfort. Choose Christ over culture. One act of acceptance can change somebody's entire day, maybe even their entire life. Maybe you're gonna be the first person who has ever in their life accepted them and showed them the love like Jesus loves them.
That's what Jesus did over and over again. As we wrap up, I want to leave you with this truth. In the upside down kingdom of God, differences do not divide us. They deepen us.
The world draws circles to keep people out. Jesus draws wider circles to bring people in. He says, follow me. He says, love them, all of them.
And if he has room at his table, then so should we.
So thank you for spending this time with me today. If this episode encouraged you, if it made you think, if it made you decide to do something kind for somebody that you normally usually wouldn't go out of your way to do, share this with somebody. Somebody in your life might need this reminder more than you know. I think all of us need this reminder sometimes.
I needed this reminder. That's why it was on my heart to do this episode. I was sick of seeing, I'm sick of seeing the world judge each other because who are we? Who are we? Who are we to judge each other? If Jesus himself doesn't, then who are we?
Stay kind, stay brave, stay rooted in Christ, and always stay a little upside down. Bye.