I’m not quite sure if anyone visits this website anymore. I know I haven’t been live for almost two years and within that time, I feel as though I am the one asking the question, “where have I been?” To be sure, it’s been nothing existential, it’s that life has been in the fast lane. Or so it’s felt like it.

I’m not going to jump on here only to say that regular posts will now be rhythmic or on a schedule because that would be untrue. Nevertheless, I thought I would attempt to come back online to simply begin to share much of what has happened in the last 2-3 years since my departure. My hope is for you to have a pint with me as we investigate the contours of life, ministry, and everything in between.

In short, we have a lot to catch up on so grab a really good quality brew, and let’s take this in chunks.

THE YEAR OF COVID-19

I won’t get into all of the medical, social, or philosophical banter surrounding the 2020 pandemic that was and is COVID-19, but being as it has been the most recent event that we all share to one degree or another, I figured I would begin here.

2020 sucked.

2020 was deeply sanctifying.

2020 was full of unrest.

2020 was not the test of endurance, 2021 is.

2020 was more about a global pandemic, it was about navigating through seasons of life and ministry that no one had ever gone through; building the plane as one is flying it, so to speak. And the truth, no one had the right answer for the challenges that everyone faced. Plenty of people had answers; some even had decent solutions, and most of them were wrong anyway.

Two things, I’ll say, sustained us through last year and they were the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and memes.

STOREHOUSE COMMUNITY CHURCH

By God’s grace, Storehouse McAllen is doing well. Our congregation has been profoundly gracious throughout much uncertainty and while we didn’t go unaffected, one of the most blissful challenges of last year was bringing to surface areas that we needed to repent of, changes that needed to be made, and grit that must be accompanied by grace.

FAMILY

My family is doing well and we didn’t have to make too many adjustments in light of the pandemic so the transition wasn’t too difficult. There were challenging moments that we are glad are over or simply had to work through in order to find rhythms, but at this point, there’s normalcy in areas that we didn’t have answers to previously.

Still and even as 2021 is in full gear, challenging moments really put the practice of grace in perspective. Everyone wants to be godly until there’s tension; especially when that tension is coming from you.

MORE TO COME

This is obviously not an exhausting list of things that have been going on in my time away, but they are some of the most important and my hope is that if I can get some sort of rhythms, I’ll let you know more as we have a cold one. I still have yet to talk to you about the books that were read, bourbons that were experimented with, conversations that were so national that no one heard the cry of the mestizos. It’s all fascinating stuff seasoned with cynicism and sarcasm. And yet, by His grace, here we are.

Cheers.