There are hard, painful, unfair things in life, and there are wonderful, joyous, pure things, and those two realities do not cancel each other out. The joy does not subsume the pain, but – thank God – the hurt does not erase the glory either.

People are the same way. They are good and they are bad, they can help you and they can hurt you – and you can’t regulate that. Instead, you accept with wide-open arms whatever people give you, choose to give you. You don’t try to take from anyone something they can’t or won’t give. You don’t wound yourself with expectations. You just take what’s handed to you and you’re grateful for it. That is the way to be. Continue reading →

I don’t think I’m a typical Christian – or at least, it’s hard to think so living in the south. Belief has never come easily for me. There was a time in my life when I couldn’t make myself believe in God, even though I (mostly) wanted to.

And yet still, I believe. But I think faith is a little bit different for me, and I think that’s as it should be.

To me, belief isn’t something that happens exclusively in rock-solid wooden pews or in arenas at hyped-up youth conferences. It’s not an empty platitude or an old tradition – I don’t cling to it because it was passed down to me. And frustratingly enough, my belief doesn’t represent any kind of certainty. I know what I believe, I know what’s in my heart – but I have to leave room for reasonable doubt. I believe in absolute truth, but I do not trust my own mind enough to be certain of anything.

At times I’m frustrated by the things my faith is not. But I’m endlessly comforted by the things it is. Continue reading →