A map for the upcoming journey

slowing down to unpack some content

Hey there!

I am trying to be more thoughtful about where I am versus where you are when I give you content. Sometimes, I need to write for myself, but my real aim is to help people. I’ll probably always write from where I am, so you can always expect content about my real struggles - the highs and lows and how I find God there. I also want to be very intentional in helping care for people on their spiritual journey. Just bear with me as I reimagine how best to write to you in a way that is thoughtful and caring of you where you are.

Something you taught me this week. When you risk vulnerability, you invite people to show up beside you. I only shared a very tiny piece of my story. So many of you said “I see you” to me in your kind comments. That’s been a rare experience for me in all my years of writing online. Sometimes courage invites courage. I wanted you to know that meant so much to me.

Because I write best when I write for myself or a letter to somebody, I thought I would try to think of my posts as postcards to you from me. Here’s postcard #1.

My post on What Jesus is Like contained a lot of information in one place, so I will unpack some of it. If you find yourself stuck chewing on something, please leave me a comment or hit reply to let me know how it is hitting you.

Here’s a helpful guide for you (and me) on what is coming up:

1. Narratives - here’s an example of a previous post I’ve written / possible basic info outline of streams

2. Why would I say that not all Bible teachers, leaders, and preachers know how to frame their messages around Jesus? I will discuss Christocentric versus bibliocentric plus faith stages and growth.

   1. Christocentric versus bibliocentric plus faith stages overview

   2. Unpack Stages 1-3

   3. Unpack Stages 4-6

   4. I will explain who I am trying to help and why, but it's very helpful anytime you can chime in, ask a question, or tell me to camp out somewhere.

3. Let’s explore what Jesus is Like through some practices and reframes of the biblical stories.

4. Talk more about the anxious life versus the non-anxious life

5. Talk a little bit about thoughts/feelings/body and attunement

6. Spiritual direction as a practice

I’m unsure how many posts this will become, but I think I'll post one or two a week until I cover each topic. Right now, I imagine eight or nine possible posts, with shorter content in each one. Let’s call this the SF (spiritual formation) Deep Dive series.

Here’s what I want you to do: Comment or hit reply and tell me what you are most excited to read. If you’ve been thinking about something else from the previous post, tell me what it is.

xoxo,

Also, I had to edit the closing questions in the previous post. I had written them in a less kind way than my intent.

Additionally, you may notice that I’m updating my colors and logos here. While I make changes, you may see a mix of old and new.