Now or Never

• What is your faith motivating you to do?

  Faith is something that motivates billions of people every single day, whether it's fasting during Ramadan, giving back to your community, or making you believe in something bigger than yourself. Today you'll hear from people whose faith has inspired them to take action in ways you might not expect.We're half-way through Ramadan, and Ify decides to try a day of fasting in solidarity with her friend (and CBC Manitoba host) Nadia Kidwai. But first she gets some advice from Nadia, on how disconnecting from the physical world allows you to connect with something higher.Former sports broadcaster Matthew Leibl tells us why getting ordained as a rabbi wasn't as big of a leap as you might think. We visit the rollicking All Nations Full Gospel Church in Ottawa, to find out how the power of music moves even the shyest of wall flowers to get up on stage and sing.Michelle Gazze grew up going to a Hindu temple in Winnipeg with her family, until she had a revelatory moment in university that compelled her to convert to Islam. She tells us how her Muslim faith is motivating her to give back to the community, and why she's roping in all her cousins (who she jokingly refers to as "Super Hindus") along for the ride.Teacher Tasha Spillett invites us to a sweat lodge, along with her grade 9 students.And former atheist Rick Loftson reveals how he ended up as a deacon in the Catholic Church. NOTE: This episode originally aired in June 2018.

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• "I quit my job because of you!" Stories of giving up everything for your art

  People from all walks of life, taking big risks for their art.We start with Bee Bertrand, who says our show - and one innocent question from Ify - inspired him to quit his job six months ago to commit fully to stand-up comedy. He tells us what's happened since that fateful day.Illustrator Narges Noori shares how her fight to create art in Afghanistan under the Taliban, led her to seek safety in Edmonton.15-year-old Hyun Byun is so determined to become the next K-pop idol, he spent a year away from family and friends to train at a K-pop school in South Korea. Now he's back home in Toronto, trying to balance life as a high school student and keeping his ambitious singing and dancing dreams alive.And 20 years into his career, Winnipeg musician Grant Davidson (of Slow Leaves) shares what it’s like to give everything to his music, and still feel like he’s fallen short.

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• Craving an escape? Come travel the world with us (without leaving your couch)

  Cairo. Nairobi. Rio de Janeiro. Those are just a few of the places we're going today, to see how Canadians are making their mark around the world right now.Simran Bajwa is determined to become the youngest Canadian to hike the seven summits, the highest mountain peaks on each continent. Something that’s keeping her motivated through gruelling weather and treacherous terrains is her mom, who is living vicariously through Simran because she spent many years unable to scratch her own travel bug. Despite being born and raised in Ottawa, travel journalist Joel Balsam never felt completely himself in Canada. So he started “shopping” for a new place to live in his adult years, travelling to more than 60 countries. The place he feels most alive is Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, so he decided to stay. But Joel says there’s a difference between “staying” and “settling.”When Incia Khalid travelled to Cairo, Egypt at a low point in her life, she didn’t expect to find the healing she needed. Today, hear how she handles life, business, and motherhood between two continents.For the last 35 years, Larry Gelmon has lived and worked in Kenya. But his time here - as a doctor and researcher at an HIV/AIDS clinic in Nairobi - Is very much up in the air, after the U.S. put a hold on international aid.This winter, Katya Castillo left her hometown of Edmonton to spend a week in Puerto Vallarta and Mexico City. But for Katya, she isn’t just another tourist – she grew up in Mexico and this is her home too. She explains what it’s like for her to go there as a visitor now, and be a Mexican-Canadian among the “gringos” abroad.

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• Caught in a cliche: When life mimics the movies

  Every story you hear today could be ripped from the plotline of a Hollywood movie - from 'meet-cutes' to waking up with no memory of who you are. What it's like to live out a movie cliche, in real life.Forbidden Love. Justin was told he could only be with a Korean woman, and Sarah was told her future husband had to be Muslim. When they fell in love, they knew it would be a battle for acceptance. The Meet Cute. Couples in romantic comedies often meet in unconventional ways — by literally colliding into each other on the street, or locking eyes as they reach for the same book. But you don’t often see movies where the main characters fall in love in the hallway at the retirement home. Meet some speed-dating seniors at the Alderwood Retirement Centre in Witless Bay, N.L. who say it’s never too late to date. 50 First Dates. Nesh Pillay has been dubbed the real-life 50 First Dates, but she says forgetting who and where you are is terrifying, and not at all like a rom-com.How the popularity of K-drama led to some strange typecasting in one man's dating life. With the rise of Korean dramas showcasing Asian men as chiselled, stoic dreamboats, Clement Goh noticed he started getting more matches on online dating apps. But that led to some weird expectations when he met up with women in person, leading him to question who he really is.Childhood friends....30 years later. Movies like Stand By Me and The Goonies show the intense bond of childhood friendship, but you never find out what happens after - did they stay friends? Did they go their separate ways? Trevor sits down with eight friends who grew up together in Terrace, B.C., to find out the secret to a 30-year friendship.

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• Mind your own business: Stories of snooping, secrets, and digging up the past

  Unleash your inner snoop, with stories of people trying to get to the bottom of a mystery that's been hanging over them for years.When Darren Bernhardt and his sister Sandy started to clear out their childhood home after their dad passed away, at first it felt like they were snooping. Their dad was private, tight-lipped, and kind of a grump. But then they started finding things he'd tucked away in sock drawers and cupboards, that made them see their dad in a whole new light.Solving genealogy mysteries has become a bit of an obsession for Lauren Robilliard, who's helped hundreds of people track down biological family members. For this self-taught "super sleuth," it all started when she was a young girl who knew she was adopted, and wanting to find answers about who she is. When Now or Never producer James Chaarani bought a remote cabin in the woods with his partner, they got more than they were bargaining for — they inherited most of the belongings of the previous owner who lived (and tragically died) there. Since then, they’ve been trying to figure out who he was, and how to peacefully co-exist with the ghost of a dead man.Growing up near Larder Lake in northern Ontario, Jason Ploeger had always heard local rumours about a taxi cab that mysteriously ended up at the bottom of the lake. He takes us on an adventure of murky dives and unopened whiskey bottles, and tells us the surprising truth behind the legend.

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