30 More Days of Grace

The Struggle is Real True forgiveness is one of the most difficult aspects of attempting to live like Jesus for me.  I’m really good at ignoring people, pretending like hurts don’t exist, and putting on an “I’m fine” face.  I’m really good at moving forward, doing what needs to be done, and making the most of really terrible situations.   But, I’m really bad at wrestling with the hurt and pain others have caused me and forgiving them.   It’s not even that I wallow around in the pit of self-pity or harbor unresolved anger.  No, instead, I just ignore the offenses and the effects they had on me and move on with my life.  And, I know what you’re probably thinking: that doesn’t sound that bad. It could be worse, right?  I’m sure it could be. The reality, though, is that Jesus commanded us to forgive one another, just as our father in heaven has forgiven us, and that means I can’t just go on with my life in a constant state of ...

Unplugged: I grew up in the 80s and 90s.  There was no such thing as “screen time” when I was a kid because by the time our dial-up internet connected and we were welcomed by AOL, we had forgotten why we were even staring at the screen! The longest we ever spent on the computer was to attempt to travel the Oregon Trail without dying of Dysentery!   BP (Before Prison), I don’t think I would have even entertained the idea of being unplugged or disconnected.  So much of our lives are dependent on or driven by being plugged in and connected. Seriously, think about how many times you google something in a day!  What was life even like before we had unlimited information at our fingertips? What did we do when we actually had to talk to each other face to face, when we had to rely on passing notes in middle school, and when we didn’t have social media to convey a picture perfect life? Prison was like returning to life in the 80s and 90s in so many ways...

Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and Other Lies we tell Kids: I ’m not sure if I ever believed in Santa. Growing up, my family members were professional sarcasm slingers and outstanding kings of creativity.  Consequently, it took immense amounts of discernment to actually know when the truth was being told. I spent years with my brother telling me I was adopted and from a different planet.  I think it might have been his sole purpose in life to destroy every one of my childhood paradigms! So, you can imagine what he did with Santa.   I was probably around five or six when he systematically tore apart every detail of the Santa myth for me.  I don’t know how much I actually believed in Santa at that point, but I know that I was done after that! What’s funny about this, is that he spent hours of our childhood trying to convince me of all of these random tales my parents would have killed him for, but when he had the opportunity to expand on the Santa tale, he ...