Podcast Summary: "Get A Bigger Picture // Triggered (Part 10)"

Podcast: Transformation Church
Speaker: Charles Metcalf
Date: November 23, 2025

Overview

This episode, delivered by Pastor Charles Metcalf, explores the theme of "getting a bigger picture" in life and faith—especially in response to emotional triggers. Drawing on the vastness of the universe as a metaphor, Metcalf challenges listeners to expand their perspectives beyond self-centeredness. He urges the church community to recognize their smallness in the grand cosmos, embrace humility, and find peace by focusing on God's immensity and grace. The message is part of the ongoing "Triggered" series and provides practical avenues for breaking free from narrow thinking and living with broader, Christ-centered vision.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Cosmic Perspective and Human Significance

• Opening Scripture: Psalm 8 (The Message)
  • David's awe at God’s grandeur in creation and the paradox of human significance.
  • Memorable line: “I look up at your macro skies...your handmade sky-jewelry...Then I look at my micro self and wonder, why do you bother with us?” (03:14)
• History of Astronomy:
  • A timeline from Galileo’s invention of the telescope (1609) to the Apollo 8 ‘Earthrise’ photo (1967), and advances like the James Webb Space Telescope (2021).
  • These milestones illustrate how humanity’s understanding of our place in the universe has grown.
• The Big Realization:
  • “You are not at the center of [the universe].” (13:22)
  • Recognizing this brings peace, clarity, and purpose; immaturity assumes self-centrality.

2. Triggers & The Size of Your Picture

• Core Argument:
  • The smaller your mental ‘picture,’ the easier it is to be triggered by life's problems.
  • “Your issue may not be your trigger. Your issue might be how small your picture is.” (15:34)
• Common Small Pictures:
  • Personal pride, insecurity (“It’s the same universe, the one where you and what you’re going through is at the center.” (18:00))
  • Religious legalism and exclusion (“Some of the smallest pictures in the world somehow ended up serving the biggest God, and it's confusing to me sometimes.” (31:41))
  • Modern identity focused on internal feelings versus external truth (35:55–36:58)
• A Path to Healing:
  • Stepping back to gain a bigger picture helps us move beyond triggers and reactivity.

3. Faith, Science, and God's Immensity

• Reconciling Science and Faith:
  • Brief history of the church's relationship to science, Galileo’s house arrest, and why the split occurred.
  • Pastor Charles's view: "Science isn't threatening to me because I know God created everything... If you are seeking truth, you can't seek truth and not run smack dab into God." (20:42–21:11)
• Theological Reflection:
  • Quotes Colossians 1:17 and Romans 11:36 to affirm God's supremacy and sustaining power over the universe (22:17–23:46).
  • Paraphrase: “If you don’t understand how big God is, it’s very easy to find yourself screaming in traffic because someone cut you off.” (23:46)

4. Practices for Expanding Your Perspective

• Personal Anecdote:
  • Pastor Charles’s own struggles with being easily triggered, striving for control, and needing perspective in life and ministry.
  • Illustrates with humorous but relatable parenting stories.
• Three Ways to Get a Bigger Picture:
  1. People
     • Ask trusted others for feedback you may not want to hear (43:27).
     • “Is there something about how I behave...that doesn’t always make you feel safe?” (43:27)
  2. Perspective
     • Recognize that your perspective isn’t the only valid one (47:41).
     • “From his perspective, he’s right. And from my perspective, I’m right. But sometimes...you would see why they act like that.” (48:00–48:38)
  3. Position
     • Your relationship and orientation to God, eternity, and others determines your peace (51:30–52:46).
     • “All I’m suggesting is I know I’m the most triggered when my picture is the smallest.” (42:27)

5. Eternal Perspective & Hope in God

• Fatherly Analogy:
  • God’s role in ‘zooming out’ with us: what matters to us matters to Him, but He has a broader view.
  • “If it’s important to you, it’s important to me. But as your Father, let me help you get some perspective.” (40:50)
• Heavenly Perspective:
  • Life is short compared to eternity with God.
  • “You’re going to live about 70, 80, 90, maybe 100 years on this earth...And when you’re off these 80 years, you’re going to be with me for...billions of years.” (41:43–41:55)
  • Worship is an act of responding to the bigger picture.

6. Challenge and Response

• Prayer for a Bigger Picture:
  • Listeners invited to identify where they’re ‘stuck in a small picture’—relational disappointments, unmet expectations, etc.—and ask God for a new, broader outlook (56:00).
• Salvation Invitation:
  • Every believer invited to embrace Jesus not as an add-on but as the true center; a call toward surrender and new identity in Christ (57:00–61:20).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The only way to make sense of the universe is to realize you are not at the center of it.” (13:22)
• “The smaller your picture, the bigger your trigger.” (15:34)
• “Science isn’t threatening to me because I know God created everything. If you are seeking truth, you can’t seek truth and not run smack dab into God.” (20:42–21:11)
• “All the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe...get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies—all because of his death, his blood poured out on the cross.” (23:15–23:46)
• “You need a bigger truth that is outside of everyone that we all agree on...But we can’t do that if we all get to decide the universe revolves around how I feel.” (36:58)
• “Some of the smallest pictures in the world somehow ended up serving the biggest God, and it’s confusing to me.” (31:41)
• “If it’s important to you, it’s important to me. But as your Father, let me help you get some perspective.” (41:39–41:48)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00–01:16: Opening and welcome
• 01:16–04:54: Psalm 8 reading, introduction to cosmic perspective
• 04:54–09:57: History of astronomy & discovery; implications for our self-view
• 09:57–13:30: The vastness of the universe, humbling our perspective
• 13:30–16:35: Key argument: “You are not at the center of the universe”
• 15:34–16:28: The connection between a small picture and being triggered
• 18:00–19:08: Religion, pride, and insecurity: both forms of self-centeredness
• 19:36–21:11: Reconciling science and faith; seeking truth leads to God
• 22:17–23:46: Colossians reading; fixing our eyes on God’s largeness
• 26:37–28:23: Metcalf’s personal struggles with triggers & control
• 31:25–34:53: The danger of small religious and secular ‘pictures’
• 35:08–36:58: Identity, inward versus outward sources of meaning
• 40:50–42:27: Father-daughter analogy, the brevity of human life, eternity
• 43:27–52:46: Three practical ways to get a bigger picture
  1. People (43:27)
  2. Perspective (47:32)
  3. Position (51:30)
• 52:46–56:00: Applying the big picture to daily life, scripture reflections
• 56:00–62:20: Prayer for new perspective, invitation to follow Jesus

Tone and Language

The episode is conversational, often humorous, highly relatable, and rooted in biblical teaching. Pastor Charles uses storytelling, analogies from science, and personal admission of his struggles to create trust and engagement. He speaks candidly about religious misconceptions, emotional triggers, and the importance of humility—always pointing back to grace.

Conclusion

The heart of this message is a call to humility, perspective, and transformation. By stepping outside of self-centered thinking—a shift that comes when we see ourselves in the vastness of God’s universe—believers can free themselves from endless reactivity, embrace a life of peace, and love in the expansive grace of Christ. If you’re feeling stuck or triggered, Pastor Charles invites you to ask God for a “bigger picture”—and to lean into the community, perspective, and eternal hope God offers.