Tag Archives: celebrate recovery

My Rescue Story

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I shared this message at Generations Church in 2020. Sharing my story in a small Celebrate Recovery group on a Friday night is one thing — standing up on a Sunday morning in front of hundreds of people and saying it out loud is something else entirely — and every time I revisit it, part of me still wants to hit delete. In it, I talk openly about my struggle with sexual addiction, what recovery looks like, and why I believe the most important step any of us can take is the one where we stop pretending we’ve got it all together.

It’s scary to put this stuff out there. But that’s kind of the whole point.

You can watch/listen to the full talk on Generations Church’s website, or if you’d rather read it, the transcript is below.

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A figure standing on a crate with arms open wide, releasing a cascading stream of shapes and pages. The words "hurts," "habits," and "hangups" are visible among the stream.

Oversharing Is Caring

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If you’ve been following my blog lately, you may have noticed a pattern. I wrote about my approval addiction. I wrote about my ongoing battle with resentment. I’m working on a post where I share the full transcript of a talk I gave at my church about my sexual addiction (it’s now published: My Rescue Story). If you’re thinking my blog is starting to sound like a therapy session… fair point.

So why do I keep posting my L’s? Why does a guy who literally wrote about being an approval addict keep hitting publish on posts that are almost guaranteed to make at least a few people think less of him?

I’m asking myself the same thing.

Continue reading Oversharing Is Caring →

Resentment Keeps Graduating

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If you’re reading this, there’s a decent chance you already know resentment is bad for you. You’ve heard the metaphor about drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. You’ve nodded along when someone said “unforgiveness is a prison.” You get it.

And yet.

This post isn’t for the general population. This is for those of us who have a particular, persistent relationship with resentment. The kind where it’s not something you occasionally feel. It’s something you fight. Regularly. Like a recurring boss battle in a video game where the boss keeps coming back with new abilities.

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Can’t Find My Keys or Save My Soul: On Asking for Help

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A few years ago I had the opportunity to speak at Generations Church as part of a series called “7 Words That Will Change Your Life.” My word was help. It’s a word most of us understand but very few of us are good at actually saying out loud when we need to.

I talked about the myths that keep us from asking for help, what the Bible has to say about it, and why the most important cry for help any of us will ever make is the one that changes everything.

You can watch/listen to the full talk on Generations Church’s website, or if you’d rather read it, the transcript is below.

Continue reading Can’t Find My Keys or Save My Soul: On Asking for Help →

You Have a Nail in Your Head

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There’s a short film called It’s Not About the Nail that cracks me up every time. A woman is explaining to her partner how she has this terrible pressure in her head, how all her sweaters keep getting snagged, how nothing seems to be going right. And the whole time, there is a nail sticking out of her forehead. He tries to point it out. She says, “It’s not about the nail.”

If you haven’t seen it, go ahead and watch it. It’s two minutes long and it’s hilarious. Also painfully accurate.

Here’s the thing: we all have a nail. And most of us have gotten really good at explaining why our headaches have nothing to do with it.

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The Stick That Stuck

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What’s brown and sticky? A stick.

It’s a dumb joke, but it’s one of my faves. I am a dad after all.
It also happens to be the best metaphor I’ve found for something that has taken me years to name: the way our strengths and weaknesses are bound together, inseparable, like two ends of the same stick.

This post is a short introduction to the idea. My wife says I need to write a book, and she claims it will be a NYT best seller. She also married me, so her judgment is questionable. For now, a blog post will have to do. It’s a simple way to show how this little metaphor can help us live with more honesty, humility, and hope.

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