John 1:14 tells us that Jesus came “full of grace and truth.” Not half grace and half truth. Not grace for the people we agree with and truth for the ones we don’t. Full of both. Our world has enough outrage and enough grind. What it needs are believers who lead with grace, rooted in truth, and firmly standing for Christ as his ambassador.

Just as I was learning to be comfortable with myself, I discovered marijuana and alcohol. The world convinced me that I would enjoy life being high.  When I smoked, I thought I became more intellectual, when I drank I was less inhibited. I cannot tell you guys how many hundreds of times over those years I found myself out in bar and quietly asking myself, “What do I have to do to fit in here? Who am I supposed to be in here?”  

Is it just me or do some of my most rewarding “successes” feel a little…anticlimactic? The rewards of faithfulness rarely comes with confetti or a standing ovation. More often, it shows up in the quiet moments—a spiritual “ah-ha” moment during a Bible study, whispering a prayer over your kids and remembering how many times you prayed for them just to exist, or experiencing answered prayers that no one else knows about. But it’s in these mundane, unseen acts that perhaps God d