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The Space Between the Stars and Our Wounds

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  One of the greatest struggles of my faith journey has been learning to hold two truths together that can sometimes feel impossible to reconcile. God is bigger than I could ever comprehend, the Creator and Sustainer of everything I can see and everything I cannot. Yet somehow, in the middle of all that vastness, my pain still matters to Him. I have wrestled with that in some deeply painful moments. I remember   losing   a friend who dropped dead in front of me, and the profound grief of realizing how fragile life can be. In moments like that, it is easy to wonder how the God who holds the universe together could possibly be present in the pain unfolding in one small human life. Psalm 147 gives us a breathtaking answer. The God who counts and names the stars is also the God who heals broken hearts. His greatness does not make Him distant from our pain. In fact, this psalm reveals that His power and His compassion are deeply connected. But as I have spent more time sitting...
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Make Room: The Greatest Commandment and The Messy Middle

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  When I refer to the Messy Middle, I am referencing the space between the now and yet still to come promises of the Gospel. Think of it as that place where the holiness of the divine creator intersects with the lived experience of the sacred creation. It is this foundational belief that deeply influences my ministry philosophy and drives my purpose as a Pastor. Imagine the beauty of this messy space as the fulfillment of the account told in Matthew 22:36-40  Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” The Messy Middle is the space where love of God becomes love of neighbor. Every neighbor! It is essential that we employ this filter because Jesus clearly stated ALL of scripture, both old...
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Still Becoming, Still Grateful: What Psalm 100 Teaches Us About the Middle of the Story

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Writers Note: Re-edited (8/8/26) to include deeper dive into why "Messy Middle" and Posture fit into my exploration of Psalm 100. There are some seasons when gratitude comes easily. When the prayer is answered, the relationship is restored, the diagnosis is good, or life simply seems to be going our way, thanking God doesn't require much effort. But what about the seasons when it doesn't? What about the unanswered prayer, the complicated relationship, the disappointment that still hurts, or the questions we carry without any easy answers? What do we do with gratitude when life is still messy? That is one of the reasons I have been thinking differently about Psalm 100 lately. We tend to read Psalm 100 as a simple call to thanksgiving, and it certainly is that. But I think there is something deeper happening. Psalm 100 is giving us a posture for living when life is not yet what we hope it will be. That is what I mean by the Messy Middle. We are living between the broken...
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Different and Gloriously Free

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  I've been working through a book on writing poetry, and one of the prompts simply said,   Write a letter to your younger self.   I wasn't expecting where it would take me. As I wrote, I found myself speaking to the little boy who lived in a house that many people probably thought was normal enough. What most people couldn't see was the abuse my siblings and I endured, the neglect, the chaos created by addiction, and the constant message that I specifically was unwanted and always would be. It was so deeply embedded that one her death bed my mother stated that in her mind I didn’t even exist. Those are heavy words to write, but they are part of my story. The poem isn't about pretending those years didn't happen. Trauma doesn't disappear because enough time passes or because life becomes good. Some days those memories feel far away while on other days they arrive without warning, carried by a smell, a sound, or a feeling that suddenly makes the past feel painful...
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The Mirror Before the Megaphone

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Lately I've found myself thinking a lot about revival. I really do want to see God breathe new life into His Church. I want to see people discover hope, relationships restored, and churches become places where people encounter Jesus in ways that change their lives. But I've also started wondering if we've been looking for revival in all the wrong places. We spend so much time looking out the window that we rarely stop to look in the mirror. We live in a culture that seems obsessed with identifying what's wrong with everyone else. Politics is the problem. Culture is the problem. The church down the street is the problem. The people who vote differently, worship differently, or see the world differently are the problem. If I'm honest, Christians aren't immune to that way of thinking either. Sometimes we're so busy talking about what God needs to do in someone else's life that we never stop long enough to ask what He wants to do in ours. That's why Psal...
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Sawubona: Fully Known, Fully Loved

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  One of the deepest longings we all carry is the desire to be known. We want someone to know the real us, not just the version we present to the world. We want someone to see the victories we celebrate, the failures we regret, the questions we quietly carry, and the wounds we try to hide, then somehow choose to stay. At the same time, many of us spend an incredible amount of energy making sure people never see the whole picture because we are afraid that if they did, they might not love us anymore. That is why Psalm 139 continues to draw me back. David begins with a simple but profound truth. "Lord, you have searched me and known me." Before David says anything about his accomplishments or his failures, he acknowledges that God already knows every part of him. Every thought, fear, motive, and scar. Nothing is hidden from the God who created him. What captures my attention is not simply that God knows David so completely. It is God's response to knowing him. God does not ...
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The Grammar Of Grace

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  The Grammar of Grace   reflects my conviction that pronoun hospitality is an act of Christian hospitality before it is a political statement. Throughout my   Messy Middle  journey, I've argued that following Jesus means choosing relationship over rhetoric and people over positions.  We can hold deep theological convictions while also recognizing that every person bears the image of God and deserves to be treated with dignity. Using someone's requested pronouns is, for me, not about settling every theological debate; it is about removing unnecessary barriers to relationship while refusing to let syllables become stumbling blocks. Christ consistently moved toward those who felt unseen, misunderstood, or pushed to the margins, and I believe the Church is called to do the same.  Pronoun hospitality is simply one way of practicing the welcome of Christ; opening doors rather than building walls, extending grace without abandoning holiness, and trusting that tra...
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