As you read this, I want you to slow down for a moment and think about your favorite poem, or maybe a piece of art or a sculpture that has captured your heart. Picture the creator behind it, working with care and intention, longing to communicate something meaningful. Every detail chosen, every line intentionally shaped, every movement purposeful. There is love behind it pointing to something they want you to see and feel. Now imagine someone encountering that work and handling it without care. They read it flatly or misrepresent it. They strip it of its meaning and reduce it to something it was never meant to be. In doing so, beauty is lost, not because the work lacked beauty, but because it was not communicated as it was intended. I can’t help but think this is what we often do with life itself, and even more, with people. We take what God has created with intention and dignity, and we reduce it, mis-label it and flatten it. And somewhere along the way, we lose sight of the bea...

  If you’ve spent any time in the Southeastern region of the US this time of year, you already know pollen is not a suggestion, it’s a full-blown assault on your humanity. Honestly, that feels like a real-life metaphor for the moment we are currently living in. There’s a lot in the air right now. A lot of voices, opinions, and people telling us what it means to follow Jesus. That’s exactly why we need to talk about being   rooted . Because here’s the truth: we live in a time with more access to spiritual and political content than any generation before us. Sermons, podcasts, influencers, and hot takes scream for our attention. But despite all that access to information, something is still missing: We are being informed but are not being transformed.   And those are not the same thing.  What we need is to be sure that our lives are “rooted” in the right things! To be rooted is to be firmly established, grounded, and deeply connected to a foundation. And that foundatio...

Over 30 years ago, I learned that “bless your heart” does not always mean what you think it means. I’m a New England guy who married a Southern girl, and the first time I met my wife’s extended family, I heard that phrase more times than I could count. I walked away thinking I had absolutely crushed it. These people loved me. I told her, “This is going great. They keep blessing my heart.” She paused, gave me that look, and said, “Honey… we need to talk.” What followed was an education. Every “bless your heart” had its own nuance. Some were kind. Some were not so kind. Some meant you’re struggling and don’t even know it. Others meant I love you and I’m praying for you. Same words, very different meanings. That’s what makes the words of Jesus found in the Beatitudes so powerful. Because when Jesus says “blessed,” He never means it sarcastically. He never means it as a subtle jab. When Jesus says “blessed,” He means something real, something life giving, something that transforms not just...