On the Shawn Ryan Show, Josh Howerton tells a story from the years when, as he puts it, "I was a young pastor." He takes a long walk, wonders whether his work is finished, and then walks in from the garage to find his family has turned the kitchen into a feast.
Clip: Viral Podcast Shorts YouTube Short from the full source linked below.
The official episode page for SRS #327, dated August 3, 2026, identifies him as the senior pastor of Lakepointe Church. This article stays with the family story he tells in the Short, in his own words.
A long walk
"I remember I was taking a long walk," he says, "and I remember thinking like, man, is my maybe I wonder if my ministry is over."
The thought does not stop there. "I honestly wonder if I've ruined everything," he says, "and man, how how am I going to provide for my family?"
He does not, in the Short, explain what sent him out on that walk. He does not name a church, a headline, or a person. The clip stays on the walk itself, and on what he was asking as he headed home.
"Welcome home, Dad."
Then he is back at the house. "I walked in the door," he says, "and uh I smelled I smelled something."
The smell meets him as he comes in from the garage. "As soon as I walked in the garage door," he says, "my wife Jana was there with my three little adopted kids." They do not wait for him to ask what is going on. "They all yelled at the same time," he says, "Welcome home, Dad."
That is the first picture he gives of the room: his wife, their three kids, and a greeting that lands while he is still coming in.
A spotless kitchen and a favorite meal
Jana had already been at work. "She'd cleaned up everything," he says. "It looked spotless in there," and she had "gotten these candles out and she lit them on the table." She had also cooked, "like my favorite my favorite meal."
The Short does not name the dish, or say how long it took. What he notices is that the kitchen had been prepared, the table was lit, and the meal waiting for him was the one he loves.
He finally asks the question. "I was like," he says, "Babe, what is going on?"
"So tonight we feast"
Her answer, as he tells it, begins with a line of scripture. "She quoted a verse from the Sermon on the Mount," he says. In his telling, the words she recited were, "blessed are you when people revile you, insult you, slander you, Rejoice and be glad, for great will be your reward in the kingdom of heaven."
This article does not expand that verse into a lesson. It is here because it is what he says she quoted in the kitchen, right before the line that closes the scene.
And then, he says, she told him, "So tonight we feast."
That is where the Short leaves them: a young pastor who had been walking and worrying about how he would provide for his family, and a wife and three kids who had cleaned the kitchen, lit the candles, cooked his favorite meal, and welcomed him home with a feast.
The fuller conversation is in the full video. The family scene in the Short is smaller than that, and closer to the door: the smell as he comes in from the garage, the kids calling "Welcome home, Dad," and Jana telling him that tonight, they feast.
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FAQ
Who is Josh Howerton?
The official Shawn Ryan Show episode page for SRS #327, dated August 3, 2026, identifies him as the senior pastor of Lakepointe Church. In the Short, he describes himself as a young pastor at the time of the story, with his wife Jana and their three little adopted kids.
What was he thinking on the walk?
He says he wondered if his ministry was over, if he had "ruined everything," and how he was going to provide for his family. The Short does not say what prompted those thoughts.
What did he find when he came home?
He smelled something cooking, walked in the garage door, and found Jana and their three little adopted kids, who yelled "Welcome home, Dad." He says the kitchen looked spotless, candles were lit on the table, and she had cooked his favorite meal.
What did Jana say when he asked what was going on?
He says she quoted a verse from the Sermon on the Mount, and then told him, "So tonight we feast."