Jesus hung out with outcasts and sinners because they weren’t pretending to be anything other than who they were. He had the courage to be himself, consistently in every interaction — whether it was a leper or a temple leader, a fisherman or a rich young ruler. He was true to who he was — always and everywhere, and that’s what he calls us to do. To…

What I Believe… (to be updated, added to, and perhaps even changed)

Well! I have compiled a pretty wide ranging statement of my personal beliefs. Enjoy!

In Relation To Common Theological Doctrine

An Open Letter.

As a newly minted young adult who is moving into my own place and finding my way, I’ve been spending a lot of my time recently thinking about the concept of “home”. In retrospect, I’ve realized this isn’t a foreign concept for my thoughts to drift towards — in fact it seems to be a rather common…

“People are going to think what they want, I let them. You can’t control perception, It’s a losing game so I don’t play. I let them lose. Lose themselves in their own fantasies of what they want me to be. A rebel, an angel, a romantic, a heart breaker, a child, a man. Perhaps I’m all of these things. Perhaps I’m none. But what I am is for me to find out. It’s for me to know.”

This commitment to authenticity and vulnerability, its been hard recently. The past few days have been hard; days, weeks, months — you get the idea. I’ve been tired. There are times when I find I still feel somewhat temporary about myself. I went to sleep last night without any desire to wake up this morning, and this morning I woke up anyway to more…

i’m learning to view death through the lenses of redemptive Grace,
a God-moment where heaven leans in so closely, sobered by our mourning what was,
all the while carrying solace and anticipation in the knowing
the moment pointing their gaze to the One who was, the One who is, and is to come — 
in everything dead eventually creating space for new…

Be careful not to lose yourself -
waiting for somebody else to tell you that you are special.
Thats what your mouth and mirrors are for.

The day I realized this, I looked inside to find
That I was filled with galaxies of undiscovered wonder.
We are compilations of…

I. still. love. her. She does things to me, things I cannot begin to describe — but I tried. :/

Today, she came back for her holiday break, and it felt as if two celestial lights that had found their own orbits collided in one’s irresistible attraction. But enough with the imagery. I don’t get it. Clearly, we aren’t…

When Jesus wanted to ask his disciples “Who do people say that I am?” and “Who do you say that I am?” he took them to a place called Caesarea Phillippi. Caesarea Phillippi was famous in Jesus’ day for a couple of things. Here was built the sanctuary to the god Pan, the god of nature and second, a cave known as the Gates of Hades, was here.

breathe.
in, then out. slowly now.
know that this is but a moment, and as all moments do, it will pass
look. its already passing.
soon it will be but another part of your past and you
you will still be here.
still be here, okay?
I know there are days
when you feel like you are on a train thats soon to derail
and you can’t imagine jumping from the…