After 11 years...

January 26, 2003 I drove to Aledo for my first day as a growned-up minister. Plus or minus 4,015 days later a few things have stuck with me...

God created you. So that means all of you. Happy, sad, and mad He created it all and saw that it was good. 

Certainty isn't all it's cracked up to be. 

Doubt is normal. 

I don't know is an answer. 

Karma isn't real. But I still find myself thinking it is. I just want God to like me and give me good things. 

Say thank you at the end of everyday. You grew, I promise. 

Hope is good. Have a little. 

People will always be broken, no matter how hard you try to put them back together. Keep trying. 

People will always be beautiful. They'll always surprise you if you keep at them.

Grace is deep and big. Live that way with yourself and with others. 

Being open is a must. Once you decide you have it all organized and figured out is the day you become completely irrelevant. 

Be diverse. Read things you don't agree with. Watch Fox News. Watch CNN. Eat food you've never tried. 

Have friends who are different than you. Race. Age. Sex. Political views. Religious views. Just be diverse. 

If you're going to have an opinion on something, make sure you actually have a connection to it. 

Better put: don't tell me what you think about a certain group of people if you don't actually know any of those people personally. 

Think before you speak. 

Sometimes don't think too much before you speak. 

Have friends with bald heads. I'd be lost with out my two bald-headed friends. Thank you Kevin and Craig for always being bald. And of course being there for me. 

Make friendships that last and remember they aren't just a number on Facebook. Make sure they make you better and let them teach you. (Thank you Shelley Lynn for sticking around and teaching me about life.)

Read. Then read more. 

Find out what idol you chase and tell someone about it. Then ask them to help you stop chasing something you'll never catch. 

Laugh at yourself. Trust me, you're an idiot a lot. Me too. 

Read your Bible and even forget what you think you might know about it. And please...read the Old Testament. 

Stop, sit, and drink some tea in the front yard. Trust me that work, the gym, the kid's practice, the yard, the house, and the nation will be okay. You aren't that vital. 

Go to church. Yeah, because you're supposed to. And because you need spaces like that. 

And have that one. That one person when it all goes good you can laugh with. And that same one person when it all goes to hell that you can hunker down and fight the storm with. Thank you Stacey for always laughing till it hurts with me...literally. And yes, we will hunker down again for the storm and come out laughing on the other side. Promise. 

Remeber, love wins. 

Basically after 11 years...love God and love others. The rest will take care of itself.