free.

I am not where I wanted to be, where the young version of me dreamed I’d be at this stage of my life. I’m fatter than I wanted to be, poorer than I imagined I’d be, not in the vocational position I dreamt about being in, and there are people I’m not as close to anymore as I’d have liked. The reality is that while I imagined a future I wanted, I didn’t necessarily plan my life to ensure I moved…

The New Testament Scriptures tend to give religious people, often known as the Pharisees, a relatively hard time. And we follow suit, frowning and shaking our heads at them as we read.

 But they serve as a reminder of what we can become if we do not regularly face our own humanity; we risk becoming guardians of a standard, rather than ambassadors of ‘The Way‘.

Piousness, pride, and a sense of…

My son. 

“I didn’t wake up to the sound of kids excited to see what’s under the tree.

I didn’t wake up next to my wife ready to bless the kids with our gifts.

I didn’t wake up having to entice the teenagers to get out of their beds so we could open the presents before church.

I didn’t wake up to the sense of excitement and joy lingering in the air.

There was no laughter, no smiles, no hugs, no sound that…

Though I have failed, I am not a failure.

Though I have made mistakes, I am not a mistake.

Though I have been judged by many, forsaken by some, lied about by a few, I am not rejected by one.

For all the things I have done well & for all the things I have not; I am still enough, I still have value.

Not because my efforts suggest so, that reality has been made public enough, but because Jesus has…

Mates.