The Cost of New Creation (2024 Will Hurt)

Sometimes we speak things out, and they become true. Like we’re wizards spinning magic into this world; our wands as our pens and mouths, created by a Creator with the same capacity to write and speak and do. Create. And then other times we declare bold things for our stories that do not come true. These goals, these new stories, these fuller versions of ourselves – well, they don’t form as we hoped, if even they form at all.

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I Can’t Believe I Came From Her

My grandmother died. These words rattle around my heart like pinballs that won’t settle, even a week beyond her funeral. And yet I wonder if the settling of these pinballs would be any better – the finality of their lodging into the belly of that machine, no longer kept alive by another flap of the paddles. Mayme Alice was the last of my grandparents to leave this earth, and undoubtedly the one with whom I grew closest.

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I Am Not in Control

I have control issues. I have known this about myself for a little while now. Counseling has helped me see it more clearly, though I feel I’ve known this for many years prior. I don’t like being at the mercy of my circumstances. Especially the mercy of another human.

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Do Not Calm This Storm

Jesus won’t calm the storm with a single word. His way is a way of work. Of picking up crosses daily. Of lugging said crosses up mountains. Of taking the narrower way of all the broader ways available to my wanderlust.

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A “Love, Simon” Pseudo-Review

On High School, Deep Dark Secrets, Coming Out, Asexuality, My First Kiss, Longing, Commitment, Separation, and the Eternal What-If? I tracked along with 95% of Love, Simon. The deep dark secrets. The longings for other boys. The conflict between self and persona. The thrill of realizing you’re not alone.

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kill the twentysomething

My twenties are gone. Forever. I’ve often been accused of being too dramatic, both on this blog and in “real life.” I’m too emotional. Too heavy and melancholy and not enough amounts of light-hearted and sunny. So, in an effort to balance out my being, I’m going to reminisce on my greatest hits as a […]

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29.

A couple housekeeping notes to start. First off, you might have noticed I’m starting to write more regularly with my awesome blogging brotherhood, Your Other Brothers. It’s becoming tedious to continue linking my new posts on that blog back to this one, so if you’d like to continue reading my posts over there, go ahead and subscribe to YOB! […]

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The Hardest Video I’ve Ever Made

I don’t consider myself a videographer. I’m an artist first, a writer second, and somewhere within my inner swirl of creativity there’s room for music and painting and photography and even a little film. I have a YouTube channel, and I’ve shot/edited/published several videos over the years. Most of them are carefree and spontaneous and wandering-induced […]

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Road to Ridgecrest

Before hitting the road, I knew I’d be adding some vibrant new colors to my traveling palette. The Grand Canyon. Mount Rushmore. Vancouver. Before hitting the road, I knew I’d also be reuniting with some old familiar colors. Sweet Seattle. Old Milwaukee. A Pennsylvanian Eden. Among all the colorful locales on my #RunningTo itinerary, however, there probably wasn’t one as […]

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WHEATON

DAY 110: It was just another day. I woke up in Chicago and figured I’d take a slight detour en route to Iowa. It’s something I told myself I’d do before #RunningTo started: take the detours. Wander the winding ways around Points A to B. Don’t rush. Explore. And so I drove an hour west to Wheaton, […]

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Life as an Enneagram Type 4: What Healthy Tom Looks Like

I’ve been recently blogging about Enneagram — the personality model that splits humanity into nine definitive “types.” What follows is the third post in a brief introspective series about my life as a Type 4: “The Individualist.” Check out my Enneagram intro if you missed it. Last time, I blogged about Unhealthy Tom. Today, I examine the lighter side of being a Type […]

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STRUGGLE CENTRAL Paperback!

I promised y’all December. The perfect Christmas gift. Or stocking-stuffer. Or paperweight. But I lied. I lied, because the long awaited STRUGGLE CENTRAL paperback is finally available TODAY! Last I checked, Daylight Savings Time notwithstanding, it’s still November. IT’S A THANKSGIVING MIRACLE. Here’s the miraculous link to my STRUGGLE CENTRAL paperback on Amazon! I’m so […]

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I Still Miss You, Annie

Friday, October 19, 2013: It is the final night of my first return to Georgia in a whole year. And for the first time since abandoning the South three years ago, I am actually sad to be flying back “home” to California tomorrow. Normally, I am not sad; normally, I am beyond ready to return […]

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Wandering Wednesday #15: Fullerton, CA

Today is a great day. I don’t care if I get stuck in Los Angeles traffic for hours or lose my favorite watch. (Oh wait, that second thing already happened.) Today is WANDERING WEDNESDAY. At long last. But it’s not just “another” Wandering Wednesday. It’s quite possibly my most pivotal Wandering Wednesday adventure yet. First […]

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Next

I recently received my first sales numbers for Struggle Central: book quantities and dollar figures for the month of May. I wasn’t surprised; wasn’t too shocked one way or the other. I sold right about as many copies as I expected or “deserved.” While I’m grateful for the new influx of funds after what I put […]

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“Struggle Central” Around the Web

So. It’s been a good week. Last Wednesday on my 26th birthday, I released my first book, Struggle Central: Quarter-Life Confessions of a Messed Up Christian. Sent it to every single one of my newsletter subscribers for free while it endures self-publishing processing en route to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online retailers soon. […]

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“Struggle Central” Excerpt #4: Camp Ridgecrest Reignites the Struggle

Once again, it’s time for a sneak peak at my soon-to-be-published book, Struggle Central: Quarter-Life Confessions of a Messed Up Christian. If you’ve missed any of my other excerpts, check out my struggles on shame in high school, loneliness at church, and my first harrowing steps into my current church community in California. Today’s Struggle Sunday excerpt takes […]

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