As I travel through the northeastern states with my daughter creating memories while revisiting important sacred spaces from my journey it feels like years of accumulated stress from pastoring have evaporated like water in the desert! As a result, my commitment to live a life that fully embraces the messy middle in both my public & private life has exponentially increased.  Throughout this journey we have generally spent 1 to 3 days in Residence Inns at various locations where we have taken day trips to the places on our itinerary of discovery. As we have loaded & unloaded the car each day, I started to notice that my daughter had one backpack that never seemed to be opened once in the room. About four days into our trip I asked her if she truly needed that bag, only to discover that it doesn’t contain a single item required for life on this trip. However, it does include a list of items that she didn’t think she could leave behind. What does this have to do with lif...

  At the Revoice conference this year (2025) Dr. Wesley Hill spoke about some profound truths required to build a lasting faith. Actually, what he challenged us to recognize is that often times we are actually in a process of rebuilding a faith that may have been worn down by disappointment with God, trauma caused by others, or the consequences brought on by our own failings. Using Nehemiah as his example Wesley explored the return of exiles to Judah to re-inhabit their homeland. As he guided us through the wonderful narrative found in the books or Ezra and Nehemiah we were reminded that YHWH (God) was not only aiding in an external building project for his people but was most interested in rebuilding the hearts of his people to experience His greatest blessings and gifts. Throughout his message I felt God was trying to get my attention in order to teach me something about messy middle living but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Then, this quote by G.C. Lichtenberg hit my e...

  Sometimes Messy Middle Living means stepping out in faith by entering sacred spaces that you once considered unholy. As I type the words of this blog I am en route to one of those spaces. I am traveling  to my second Revoice Conference. It was about a year ago that I first entered this space with trepidation, fear, & a great deal of excitement.  When I entered that space I was still holding onto many preconceived notions about what is a wonderfully diverse, gifted, loving, & holy (yes Holy) gathering of Christ followers. To be candid this year I am feeling many of those same feelings with one HUGE addition: I enter with an informed expectation that I will experience community, encounter grace, & hear from God through my LGBTQIA+ siblings in Christ who call this wonderful “Side B” community family. What I expect to experience is nothing less than what those who met Jesus along the way in His earthly journey experienced. Perhaps I will find myself in the seat ...