Wow… is it good to be here! What an amazing place to connect and lean into the biblical brain science of HESED to find RELATIONSHIP and how to grow emotionally and spiritually healthy community.
Relationships that are built up by the attachment we find in being face to face with those people who are gladder than glad to be with me are so amazing. So, I am just over the top amped up to have you join in here.
I see the word JOY, but what I am really thinking is, RELATIONSHIP.
JOY IS FIRST AND ALWAYS RELATIONAL. When I have HIGH JOY, my brain is working like a well-maintained racing car engine… purring in perfect synchronization with the rest of the car it is powering. But when my brain is stuck in low or no joy… almost nothing works. It affects not just my mental and emotional processing, but every other part of the body.
JOY begins with remembering and exploring what I am grateful for. More specifically, WHO I am grateful for. Who has opened the door of relationship to me and invited me to know them and be connected to their story in a way that caused us to attach in a relationship that was deeper than the surface level acquaintances we have. Here is the place we began to truly find our identity. From the people who truly loved us and allowed us to love them. HESED LOVE… love beyond emotional connection. Love that is more like a mother and child, bonded attachment, joyful attachment, in hopeful, lifegiving ways that cause us both to thrive.
Joy grows when I am able to tell my story in the presence of people who are listening and aligning and attuning with me. In our time of connecting, we begin to find the common ways we are curious about one another, intrigued by another’s story, and captivated to know more. And from that connection we grow to trust one another in ways that allow us to share more than JOY.
So that’s what I would like to do now. Invite you into my story.
Let me start with the part of explaining who I am and what lights me up to be the guy God has wired me to be.
My “WHY” statement, that is the reason behind why I do what I do, is: “I AM MOST FULFILLED WHEN I AM REMOVING BARRIERS THAT IMPEDE OTHERS FROM BEING IN A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS AND HIS PEOPLE.”
I am a reader, and I love to share what I read with others that I feel will benefit from the material.
I am a potter, and my skills to make pottery are extremely satisfying as I have the opportunity to collaborate with my wife, Sue, who is an accomplished studio ceramicist with a small shop on Etsy and connected with Indiana Artisans.
I love to craft small batches of dessert wines, bake pies, make persimmon pudding, and share all of those with my family, neighbors, and friends.
I am a recovering left-brained, GET-R-DONE sort of guy from Wabash, IN. I grew up in Southern Indiana for the first twelve years of my life and graduated as part of the first graduating class from Jefferson High School in Rockford, IL. I am the oldest of three kids, to a stay-at-home mom who taught me to cook, and sew, and love Jesus. And a father who was trained as a mechanic and pipe fitter, but who could build, repair, and fix anything you brought him.
I learned early in life that I was good at organizing and planning. I was not always the smartest kid in the class, but I loved to read and working hard was part of our family culture. My grandparents were a key part of my early growing-up years and part of my intense love for living in the country, fishing, and family.
There is much more you will learn about me as we walk this path together for a time. I have some more JOY to share, some broken things that have shaped me, and some restoration that provides an amazing tale of the miraculous grace and mercy of Jesus.
I can’t wait to unpack some of the bountiful expressions of HESED from His ekklesia, and the JOYFUL JOURNEY of walking in relationships that are emotionally healthy and safe and filled with the portent of the KINGDOM. So, please don’t be a stranger here.
The purpose of what I would like to write about is how we are all on a journey to be connected in relationship because our greatest fear is to be alone. Our world, our nation and neighborhoods, and face it, even our families are struggling with how to do this. How do we actually do that? Let’s explore how to do that together.
So welcome to connection. Welcome to the HESED DISCIPLESHIP NETWORK.
Shalom/wholeness be yours in relationships that explore IMMANUEL, God with us.