A rock etched with the tree of life-God’s promise to us all

Hoping finds the ground.

Faith formed over time — through trust, doubt, loss, and the stubborn persistence of return.

Love ignited faith → Love was obscured → Love was rediscovered → Love now orients everything.

Hope, for me, is remaining oriented toward life when clarity is absent.

My faith did not begin as a set of beliefs. It began as an encounter with love. In my early adult life, I became convinced—captivated, really—by the idea that God is unconditionally loving.

I fell in love with that God.

Faith, since then, has not been a straight line or a settled possession. It ignited brilliantly once, but has been formed and reformed slowly over time—shaped by life, unknowing, spiritual injury, doubt, loss, practice, and return.

There was a season of unlearning—what many now call deconstruction. It was disorienting and costly, marked by questioning and the unraveling of voices that had once claimed authority. At times I felt lost, though even then I sensed that something deeper was holding me.

In this current season I immersed myself again—entering seminary, returning to Scripture, and re-centering on Jesus within the story of the Hebrew Scriptures. What emerged was not a new faith, but a re-integrated one: grounded again in who God truly is, and in the self-giving love that stands at the center of the gospel.

Perhaps I got lost.

Or perhaps I was only rediscovering what had been there all along.

At its heart, faith is learning to live within the love of God.

First, we receive that love ourselves.

Then, in response, we learn to love God, to love our neighbors, to love ourselves rightly—and to care for the creation entrusted to us.

In the end, faith and hope both find their meaning there.

As the apostle Paul wrote:

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

— 1 Corinthians 13:13

What follows here is not instruction, but witness.

Faith is not a possession.

Hope is not a conclusion.

Formation is ongoing.

And love is at the center of it all.

Exploring faith requires a rhythm of grounding, unlearning, and practicing. Below, you will find three distinct pathways: Core Foundations centered on the way of Jesus, Spiritual Harm addressing the theological and church wounds carried along the way, and Spiritual Practices designed to form our hearts and minds in love.

🏛️	💔	🌿
CORE FOUNDATIONS & BELIEFS Grounded in the way of Jesus, the meta-narrative of Scripture, and the biblical hope of shalom.	SPIRITUAL HARM & UNTANGLING Untangling the fear-based theology, coercive systems, and church wounds that have distorted God’s character.	SPIRITUAL PRACTICES & FORMATION Moving beyond head knowledge into embodied contemplative prayer and rewiring trust.
• My Faith Story • A Jesus-Centered Way Beyond Empire • The Meta-Narrative (In Pictures) • My Core Beliefs • Neo-Anabaptism	• Relearning to Trust • A Trip to Hell and Back (Featured Study) • The Blueprint Trap • Beyond Total Depravity • When Belonging Breaks / Exclusion	• Image of God Exercise • Image of Goodness Exercise • Guided Meditative Prayer: Aligning with Jesus
[Explore Beliefs → ]	[ Explore Harms → ]	[ Explore Practices → ]

Practices that Explore and Shape Faith

Faith is not only shaped by what we believe, but by the practices that help us see, trust, and experience God more deeply.

Some of the reflections here explore how our inner image of God is formed—and how it can be gently reshaped by the self-giving love revealed in Jesus.

Over time, I will add other exercises and practices that have helped deepen trust, renew faith, and orient life more fully toward love.

Image of God – An Exercise

Click on the image below to explore

What image of God lives within you?

Image of Ultimate Goodness – An Excercise

Click on the image below to explore

We all strive for “goodness” – what is it?

A Guided Meditative Prayer – A Personal Practice

When I did the exercise above – Image of God – the first image of God that popped into my head was the one below.

I felt off-base — actually horrified.

*The Creation of Adam*, Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1508–1512)

And almost instantly, I went back to being a scared little boy — the part of me that had quietly absorbed the message that God was dangerous. Watching. Condemning. Easily disappointed.

And that was the template living in me.

Yet I proclaim that Jesus is God.

That Jesus is the fullest revelation of God in human history.

That Jesus on the cross most clearly embodies who God is:

the ultimate of self-giving love in the face of rejection
absorbing violence rather than inflicting it
loving and forgiving enemies
restoring rather than retaliating

My theology said one thing.

My nervous system said another.

In my imagination, the angry old man remained.

I realized belief alone was not reshaping my inner world. So I created a practice — a imaginative prayer exercise, using guided imagery to gently bring my internal picture of God into alignment with the crucified Christ.

Not to deny what surfaced.

Not to shame the frightened child in me.

But to allow the cross and Jesus through chainging my brain – via neuroplasticity- to become the lens through which I see the Father.

Because what image of God lives in us — beneath our stated beliefs — quietly shapes everything.

Do the Meditation

Click on Jesus below