Jason Clark's Blog, page 23

SCOT MCKNIGHT / A CHURCH CALLED TOV

Scot McKnight A Church Called TOV

iTunes Google Spotify YouTube Co-Author of A Church Called TOV, Scot McKnight talks about his new book written in response to the abuses of power, sexual abuse, and spiritual abuse within the leadership of Willow Creek, Harvest, and sadly churches of all shapes and sizes.

We talked about TOV (which means goodness) and how when we practice empathy, compassion, extending grace, putting people first, telling the truth, promoting justice, and serving others, TOV emerges in the culture and we all become more Christlike.

QUOTES

They (those who were abused) needed people in the establishment to stand up for them in order to move that story forward at the pace it should have been and they (church leaders) didn’t.”

“The flipside of the power through fear culture is grace.”

“The opposite of a narcissist, who has utterly no insight into his own character and who is totally self-satisfied, is empathy, the capacity to empathize with others.”

“Many of the victims of pastors are afraid to come forward because of what it will do the church; but also because of the blowback that comes at the systemic level from an institution which, is very powerful. So you put people first, rather than institution.”

“Lived theology is more potent than written theology. So, if you hung out with Mr. Rodgers for fifteen years and worked with him, you would have experienced the divine reality more than if you had attended sermons on those fifteen years of Sundays.”

For more on Scot McKnight
Northern Seminary
Substack
Twitter
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Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly

Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace www.rivercharlotte.com

Follow Follow Follow Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

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YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… DR. CAROLINE LEAF / CLEANING UP YOUR MENTAL MESS

by A Family Story | March 4, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Life, Popular, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

Brilliant, compassionate, and empowering, world-renowned neuroscientist and best-selling author, Dr. Caroline Leaf, talks about her new book, Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess. She addresses what happens when we don’t use our minds properly. Why mind-management is the solution to cleaning up our mental mess and how the science can help us transition from being aware of toxic thoughts to catching and managing them. In other words, she teaches us how to renew our minds.

Read More WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN / with DEREK TURNER

by A Family Story | April 2, 2021 | Faith, Intimacy, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

He came and he walked beside us, He said, “I will never leave you, I will never forsake you; you are not alone, you belong.” When we discover this love, we are transformed and we begin to love like He does. On Palm Sunday Derek speaks about the cross and how we are invited to live surrendered and sure in love. He talks about laying down our loves, loving our enemies, and seeing the kingdom come.

Read More THE DE/RECONSTRUCTING PARENT WITH SARAH TURNER & KAREN CLARK

by A Family Story | April 21, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, Intimacy, Leadership, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

Sarah Turner and Karen Clark take the hosting reins to share their de/reconstructing faith journey and how, primarily through parenting, they began to rethink who God is and their approach to scripture, church, and ministry.

From Harry Potter and the college years to church life – the good, the bad, and the ugly, they talk about how parenting for connection and living an honest relationship with a loving God, is the most transformative thing we can do in our lives, our kids lives, and in ministry.

Read More BRUXY CAVEY / LOVING GOD BY LOVING OUR NEIGHBOR

by A Family Story | May 7, 2021 | Interview, Intimacy, Life, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

Bruxy Cavey, author, and pastor of The Meeting House, dives into relational faith, loving God through loving our neighbor, repenting with a hopeful future focus, how doubt is connected to our faith, how we are not people of the book (bible) we are people of the person (Jesus), and three perspectives on hell concluding with the fact that the New Testament church never leveraged hell to get people to make a decision to for Jesus.

Read More SCOT MCKNIGHT / A CHURCH CALLED TOV

by Jason Clark | January 19, 2022 | Faith, Interview, Life, Popular, Prayer, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season three, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

Co-Author of A Church Called TOV, Scot McKnight talks about his new book written in response to the abuses of power, sexual abuse, and spiritual abuse within the leadership of Willow Creek, Harvest, and sadly churches of all shapes and sizes.

We talked about TOV (which means goodness) and how when we practice empathy, compassion, extending grace, putting people first, telling the truth, promoting justice, and serving others, TOV emerges in the culture and we all become more Christlike.

The post Good Soil appeared first on A Family Story.

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Published on January 19, 2022 16:43

Deconstruction; Dear Church, Welcome to The Revolution

Deconstruction Dear Church, Welcome to The Revolution

I remember the first time I heard the term ‘deconstruction.’ While I grasped the metaphor, the word didn’t resonate with me.

I’ve certainly done some spiritual deconstructing in my life, but I am inclined to use a descriptor more in line with ‘reconstruction.’ This is partly because I’m a ‘glass half full’ guy; at least, I want to be. But also, my spiritual journey has been less about what I tore down, and more about what replaced it.

My spiritual journey would better be described with transformative words like rethinking, reimagining, repenting, or, reconstruction.

My spiritual journey? It’s been about mercy and grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration; it’s a remodel not a teardown.

But yeah, every remodel needs some deconstruction; and that’s the word that’s stuck for so many, and I get it.

It’s a violent word, and limited for sure. But us church kids? We were raised in the limited violent dualism of retribution.

We grew up under the abusive hypocrisy of a good and loving God with a hateful murderous streak.

We grew up in the religion of hierarchy; where the last is always last, and the first decide who’s ‘in’ and who’s ‘out.’

We grew up under the banner of what we’re against, even when it was at the expense of what we were for, even when it compromised mercy and grace.

And this has birthed a revolution, and when people revolt, they start by tearing shit down.

When you react to something, you create an equal and opposite reaction. Just so, for some, the deconstruction movement is an equal and opposite reaction; still dualism, still war, still about punishment, the only thing that’s changed is the side to which they’re enslaved.

For some, maybe those most abused by the church, the deconstruction movement has become an outright demolition with no plan for the future. For some, there is no baby in the bathwater, and the journey vacillates between days of cathartic melt-downs and days of nihilistic numbness.

But, for the ‘some,’ I am ever hopeful, and for good reason. God is love. And Love meets us where we are and redeems, restores, and renews. You see, regardless of what we call a movement, Love is in the business of reconciliation.

And, ‘God is love’ is the whole point.

And, ‘God’s love reconciling the whole world,’ is the kindness that is leading so many to repentance. And repentance is the beautiful foundation of this deconstruction movement.

Whether the church sees it or not.

Lately, I’ve been describing repentance this way; it is when we have a thought about God that isn’t as good as who He really is. And so, we change the way we think until we are in alignment with what Christ revealed about God’s goodness through the cross and resurrection.

This deconstruction movement is a repentance movement, it is sons and daughters, the church deep and wide, changing their minds about the love of God. It’s an awakening to the image and likeness of God with us, God within us. It’s a discovery that there is no death love hasn’t defeated, no hell love hasn’t invaded, no delusion love hasn’t infiltrated, no darkness love hasn’t illuminated, there is nothing that separates us from God’s reconciling love.

Whether the church recognizes it or not.

This deconstruction movement is an opportunity for an about-face, a changing of the way we think. I would propose that it’s the repentance movement we’ve longed for, the beginning of the billion soul harvest we’ve prophesied, the great revival we’ve prayed for.

Whether we like it or not, dear church, welcome to the revolution.

To be continued…

Some of this article is excerpted from my forthcoming book, Leaving (& Finding) Jesus
CLICK HERE to Pre-Order

PRE-ORDER NOW!

Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God in a world traumatized by the religious abuses done in the name of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… What is Hell?

by Lloyd Clark | August 14, 2019 | Articles, Faith, Lloyd's Corner, Relationship, The Fathers Love | 0 Comments

We are free to reject Him all we want but we can’t stop Him from loving and pursuing us.

Read More Encountering Humanity on 5th and 2nd

by Aimee Perry | October 21, 2020 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Popular, The Fathers Love | 9 Comments

Masks, no masks, a black woman, a middle-aged white woman, a red neck, an old white man, and a black man met up yesterday on the corner of 5th and 2nd to work together for the good of humanity!

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Published on January 05, 2022 14:20

SEXY DECONSTRUCTION? WITH DEREK TURNER & JASON CLARK

Sexy Deconstruction? with Derek Turner & Jason Clark

iTunes Google Spotify YouTube

Matt Chandler, a pastor, and writer, recently used the phrase “a sexy fad” when describing the deconstruction movement. Derek and Jason highlight his statement to dive into the nature of their own deconstruction and reconstruction. They have become even more convinced that God is in the restoration business. This podcast dives into sin, grace, reconciliation, and God’s love for all His kids, the church deep and wide. Ultimately, the guys kick off season three embracing Rom 8:38-29 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

QUOTES

“If our deconstruction can get us to expose the cornerstone that is Jesus, now we have something to build upon.” Derek

“God is actually in the restoration business…”

“I’m convinced the billion-soul harvest is actually happening right now in the deconstruction movement.” Jason

“Deconstruction is the revival that evangelicals have been praying for, for years.” Derek

“God is a reconciling, redeeming, restoring God; His death leads to resurrection, and to me, deconstruction is an invitation to know this God more fully.” Jason

“I am so convinced Jesus is walking down every road with every one of us that it isn’t possible to leave Jesus.” Jason

Podcast intro and outro music by Wilde Assembly

iTunes Google Spotify YouTube Derek Turner Follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace www.rivercharlotte.com

Follow Follow Follow Jason Clark is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

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JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… DALE HOWIE / UNSPOKEN SERMONS ON THE GOOD NEWS OF INCLUSION

by A Family Story | June 23, 2021 | Interview, Intimacy, Life, Prayer, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 3 Comments

Paraphrasing the sermons of George MacDonald, Dale Howie shares his sometimes painful, often beautiful, journey of awakening to the irreducible truth of life discovered in relationship. He speaks to grace, our common Fatherhood, our inclusion in Christ’s life, death and resurrection, our union, and the wonder of our humanity. A humble storyteller and relational theologian, Dale speaks as a father on behalf of Our Father, who loves all His children with a reconciling love.

Read More HAROLD & LINDA EBERLE / THE NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION

by A Family Story | March 10, 2021 | Faith, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, Sin, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

Harold and Linda Eberle share about the catalytic love of God that is transforming our western understanding of the church. They speak on victorious mindsets, kingdom thinking, the myth of separation, reconciliation through the death of Jesus, and salvation through his life; plus old elephants! This is a power packed interview full of profound insight.

Read More SHEILA GREGOIRE / THE GREAT SEX RESCUE

by A Family Story | June 13, 2021 | Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Life, Marraige, Popular, Relationship, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two | 2 Comments

Intimacy within marriage, the connection between intimacy and mutuality, the nature of trust, the definition of sex, addressing transactional vs relational thinking, dismantling obligation, addressing objectification and broken ideologies developed from Eph 5:22, “Wives submit to your husbands…” Sheila Gregoire practically rethinks sex so husbands and wives can experience intimacy, joy, and deeper connection.

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Published on January 05, 2022 13:06

Here’s To Bigger Dreams

Here's To Bigger Dreams

“Dream” is a word I have loved to participate with as a child. As I near 50, it’s a word I hardly understand. It holds the potential for wonder and hope, and also sorrow and disappointment.

It’s such a powerfully vulnerable word that I’m often leery of using it, and yet every time I talk to my Father he asks me to dream with Him.

As I look again upon a New Year I am less sure about how to dream with God than ever before, and more sure it’s what I am on this planet to do.

I continue to discover that Acts 2:17 is true, dreaming is an old man’s game, but the older I get the more I discover that only children can truly play it.

Dreaming is for children who have chased down vision, failed, lived through disillusionment, disappointment, loss, sorrow, and endless rejection, and still surrender their hearts to the wonder, innocence, kindness, and goodness of Love.

“Old men dream, dreams.” That’s the scripture, but it’s not about age, it’s about a journey into revelation–an awakening to a great affection for ourselves and our neighbors.

Dreaming is not a pretty concept, or a good principle, neither is it a brash leap or the optimistic bent; it is grace lived out, it is hope differed and promises fulfilled.

Only a person who has experienced the death of a dream has access to resurrection. And those words are prettier than the experience.

And so, as I enter a new year, I pray to know resurrection life, and not just for me and mine, but for you as well. I pray you would awaken to all our Father has for you. I pray you would dream “old men dreams” with the abandonment of a child and experience the wide-open places of God’s love.

Even as we count the cost, I raise my glass to 2022 and say, “Here’s to bigger dreams.” |
Happy New Year!

…

I wrote this song nearly twenty years ago. One night, just on the other side of loss, I went for a walk with a friend. As we walked through a field we dreamed of resurrection life. A year later I released a song that was the beginning of that promise fulfilled. I thought I’d share it with you.

Where Once I Feared To Walk

We went walking out in the field
Yeah, late tonight
Could see our breath each dream exhaled
Beneath the half moonlight

This is Life you said to me
This declared round your pipe
This is where it all works out
In dreaming we’re alive

I have dreamed and still believe
I have risked and I have lost
But looking down I see my feet
Where once I feared to walk

So we go walking out in this field
To claim our destiny
And if by chance it seems we’ve failed
Then here’s to bigger dreams.

Surrendered & Untamed by Jason Clark PRE-ORDER NOW!

Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God in a world traumatized by the religious abuses done in the name of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… RANDALL WORLEY / Questioning My Answers

by A Family Story | September 9, 2020 | Crisis of Identity, Dreaming, Faith, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Relationship, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season One, Writing | 2 Comments

Randall Worley talks about having a “beginner’s mind,” faith while embracing mystery, pioneering and the nature of heresy, the limits of language, approaching scripture through love, and the importance of remaining curious while understanding that God is not insecure or defensive when we raise hard questions.

Read More Why Can’t I Experience God’s Love?

by Jason Clark | February 19, 2020 | Articles, Faith, Life, Popular, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

“How do I experience God’s love?”
Because I write and speak on the always good love of our heavenly Father, that is a question I am asked often.

Read More The Outburst at Dinner that Changed it All

by Jason Clark | May 15, 2019 | Articles, Faith, Prone To Love, The Fathers Love | 5 Comments

The idea that God saw me as a spiritual giant seemed too good to be true…

The post Here’s To Bigger Dreams appeared first on A Family Story.

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Published on December 29, 2021 19:06

Kindness

When Karen and I do pre-marriage counseling, we talk about a lot of things, communication, kids, sex, but there is always one theme, one foundational focus, one earnest word of advice, one hope for the couple, that they would practice and know kindness.

In 26 years of marriage, we’ve discovered that kindness is the key to everything. It unlocks every good thing, encourages every future hope, heals every past pain, disarms anger, dismantles distrust, softens a hard heart; kindness believes and empowers and reveals all that is beautiful and lovely.

Just so, unkindness will destroy a marriage, a family, a friendship, a generation… unkindness works like yeast in the dough, it infiltrates every aspect of our lives. It’s a poison with only one remedy, repent…

And unkindness can be subtle, like a sigh, or body language, or how I speak to the dog. Yeah, I know it well, I’ve been unkind more than I like to admit. But thank God for the remedy; I can repent! I can ask forgiveness, I can be transformed…

And I do repent, “Father, I repent today. I thank you for your kindness, I ask that you would permeate my heart with the kindness you have for me, for my loved ones, for all those I meet today, all I come across on social media. I want to be an expression of Your kindness to me. I receive, I give, I repent, wholeheartedly. I change my mind and align my will with my reconciled heart. I will not let unkindness make a home in me. Amen.”

I have learned that any hope of an authentic and beautiful life is lost through the justification of unkindness.

And I have also learned that the opposite is true, everything can be made whole through kindness.

“Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?” (Rom 2:4)

It’s kindness that changes our minds and there is none kinder than our beautiful friend and savior, Jesus.

It is His kindness that opens us to new thoughts, that empowers us to visit our bias, reimagine our world through hope, confront our fearful hearts with perfect love. It’s His kindness that overcomes our violent defenses and settles our deepest insecurities.

It’s His kindness that exposes our arrogance and hypocrisy, that knocks us off our high horses; the same kindness that violently knocked Paul on his ass exposing his elite violent unkindness toward God’s beloved.

And it’s His kindness that exposes our ignorance, broken ideology, and oppressive theology, that gently reveals resurrection life; the same kindness shown on a road to Emmaus when God hid Himself so His beloved could discover union.

It’s the kindness of a friend who gave Himself up to our violent delusions, experiencing death on behalf of our ignorance and hate; not once holding it against us.

It’s kindness that empowers repentance. And we are transformed when we respond to this kindness.

Do not be conformed to this (unkind) world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (See Rom 12:2)

It’s God’s kindness that leads to repentance, the changing, or renewing of our mind; and we are transformed.

If kindness isn’t the foundation of a thought, if it is not the soil a belief system grows in, then there is no repentance and we can’t experience transformation. And without transformation, there is no way to live an authentic and whole life.

How does a person step away from shame and condemnation if every thought they have toward themselves is unkind? They can’t.

How does a person experience trust or hope of union if every thought they have toward those they disagree with is unkind? They can’t.

It’s why kindness is Karen and my foundational advice to couples who desire to experience the dream of union as a reality. Oneness is impossible without it.

It’s Christmas, a season that celebrates hope; the birth of Kindness of displayed in flesh and blood.

We pray you would know this kindness today in every way; that you would know you are His beloved and His expression.

Merry Christmas
Jason and Karen

Some of this article is excerpted from my forthcoming book, Leaving (& Finding) Jesus
CLICK HERE to Pre-Order

PRE-ORDER NOW!

Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God in a world traumatized by the religious abuses done in the name of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… Introducing Children to the Father

by Jason Clark | May 9, 2019 | Articles, Books, Faith, Life, Miracles, Parenting, Prone To Love, The Fathers Love | 1 Comment

I prayed. “Father, come make your love known.” Immediately our Father, Ethan’s and mine, filled the room with His love. It’s hard to explain but let me try. For the next ten minutes, while I lay there and held Ethan, my body trembled with God’s presence. I literally shook with His love.

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Published on December 21, 2021 10:31

Jesus, The Stranger

Hi, My Name Is Hank

If I were to find myself walking down the road with a couple of fellas, complete strangers, and we began to dialogue, I mean, really get into it, a conversation that changes everything, eventually, I imagine, we’d introduce ourselves to each other.

“My name is Jason,” I’d say. “I’m a writer.”

“Oh, mostly memoirs that reveal the love of God.” I’d respond when asked, “what kind of writer.”

Then we’d move to either shake hands, bump fists, or there’d be the awkward touching of elbows, cause that’s a thing now.

I’m not sure what the traditional Jewish greeting was in Jesus’ day.

I could look it up, and maybe at some point, I will. More likely though, a friend, or dissident, will inform me before I get around to it.

But it’s not really important because it’s not the point. I am simply using the cultural norms for how strangers greet one another today as a literary device to set up a retelling of the Emmaus Road Journey from Luke 24; the story where Jesus happens across two of His followers on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus “but they were kept from recognizing him.”

If you know the story, then you remember that Jesus showed up incognito, hidden, unfamiliar to his friends.

It’s an odd thing, but it actually happened several times after Jesus’ resurrection. We have three incidents where He goes unrecognized by His closest friends.

Once by Mary Magdalene in the garden where Jesus had been buried and then risen. She thought He was the gardener. Jesus had to make Himself known to her. (See John 20)

Once on a beach where Jesus prepared a meal of bread and fish for several of his disciples. John writes, “None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.” (See John 21:12)

That’s an odd thing for John to write. It’s almost as if he was saying, “We knew it was Jesus even though we couldn’t recognize Him in the ways familiar to us.”

The third time is my favorite, it happened on the evening of His resurrection somewhere between Jerusalem and Emmaus when Jesus joined two travelers, two followers, two friends, to discuss His life, death, resurrection.

And as already noted, scripture tells us “they were kept from recognizing him.”

We don’t have specifics on how Jesus introduced Himself, but I imagine He would have given them a name and maybe even a fist bump.

And I imagine the name He would have given to be clever; like maybe a name in a language unfamiliar to them that meant, “Resurrected Savior,” or “Messiah,” or “Guys, it’s me, Jesus” or, “The name that is above every name.”

But we just don’t know.

So, for this retelling, I’m gonna go with Hank…

After an introduction and a fist bump, Hank asked, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

“They stood still; their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, ‘Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’”

“What things?” Hank asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.”

Hank looked at them and shrugged as if to say, “Never heard of Him.”

The guys couldn’t believe it but they quickly brought Hank up to speed.

“He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”

Hank listened intently, smiling at that last sentence.

Then, with a strange enthusiasm, he looked at them as if to ask, “What more?”

“And what is more,” They said, “…it is the third day since all this took place.”

Hank nodded as they continued.

“In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body.”

Hank’s eyes grew large with excitement; kinda like the thrilling enthusiasm a parent feels as they watch their child unwrap the gift of a lifetime. It takes everything in Hank to restrain from helping the fellas rip off the wrapping paper.

“They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.”

Hank grinned knowingly, encouraging them to keep going.

“Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

Hank looked at them for a moment, anticipation emanating from every part of his being.

“And…” radiated from his face, it hung pregnant in the air. Hank waited for them to continue the story, to maybe recognize the truth in the words they had just spoken. But their story seemed to have run its course.

The boys looked at Hank and simply saw a stranger traveling down the same road they were on; lost to their understanding of things.

Hank looked at them with a love so deep as to render them breathless.

And then Hank did something so Hank. Like, everyone who knows Hank would nod and say, “Oh man, that’s so something Hank would do.”

He rebuked them. He corrected them. He revealed the Truth to them.

“How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” Hank said with passion.

They looked at the stranger confused, vulnerable, and suddenly more hopeful than they could explain. There was no getting their heads around what Hank had just said, but their hearts leaped within them as he spoke. It was as if they knew a Truth they couldn’t understand.

Hank grinned and then said the most powerful thing they had ever heard, “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”

They had no idea what Hank was talking about. But at that moment a fire ignited within them, a nuclear reaction bursting forth in their very core, radiating life and light to every part of their being.

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Hank explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Jesus.” (See Luke 24:17-27)

I imagine Hank preached the best biblical exegetical message ever preached regarding the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Hank searched the scriptures and revealed eternal life.

But hermeneutics is a subject for another chapter.

My point here; I imagine Hank’s preach was the very best ever given for one reason, Hank was Jesus…

Hank Was Jesus!

Hank was Jesus!

But the fellas hadn’t put it all together yet.

So, Hank, using scripture, shared with them about Jesus. We don’t know exactly what scriptures Hank used, but if you know Hank, you know he is brilliant at revealing Christ in scripture.

Whatever scripture Hank shared, his insights challenged and began to transform the fella’s thoughts and ideas about Jesus.

If the fellas had stopped to wonder, it would have seemed strange to them that Hank, having apparently never met Jesus, having never even heard of Him, seemed to know Jesus beyond what they could ask or imagine.

But they didn’t have time to wonder at this as Hank spoke so powerfully, so beautifully, and so insightfully that by the time they got to their destination they couldn’t imagine spending another moment without him.

Hank was amazing!

“So, as they approached the village to which they were going, Hank continued on as if he were going farther.

But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.

So, Hank went in to stay with them.

When Hank was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.” (See Luke 24:28-31)

They looked at each other amazed and said,

“Hank is Jesus!”

“Jesus is alive!”

“Christ is risen!”

“Jesus, the name that is above every name, has reconciled the whole world to Himself not counting our missing of the mark against us!”

Scripture tells us, their eyes were opened, hallelujah!

Hank opened their eyes so they could see Jesus!

It was the very best news they had ever received. It was an earth-shaking, life-transforming gospel of salvation, pure and perfect…and given to them by a stranger.

The most important revelation of all time and Jesus thought it best to communicate it through Hank.

What?!

But the story isn’t over, it gets stranger.

The moment the fellas knew Hank was Jesus, the moment they knew that Christ is risen, the moment they discovered the joy of their salvation, “He disappeared from their sight.”

I gotta be honest, when I was a kid and until just a few years ago, I never understood this part of the story.

I loved incognito Jesus, and I loved the big reveal, but I always felt His sudden disappearance was a bit of a letdown.

Now I’m convinced it’s the most amazing part of the story.

As they sat there reveling in resurrection life, they asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (See Luke 24:28-32)

Revelation!

Revelation is when we see what was always there; when we discover what has always been true.

So, Hank takes the bread and he breaks it. And at that moment, the fellas get revelation. Christ is risen.

And then Jesus disappears from their sight.

Why?

I think it’s because Jesus didn’t want the limits of their understanding to come between Him and their burning hearts.

Jesus, on a mission to reveal Himself, walked with friends that knew Him intimately, that had walked with Him three years, but showed up unrecognizable to them so that their understanding, their preconceived ideas about who He was, their worldview, their ideology, their theology, their eschatology, all their ologies, wouldn’t get in the way of the heart burning revelation of God with us, God within us, reconciling the world to himself, not counting our missing of the mark against us.

I think Jesus showed up as a stranger,

so their limited ideas regarding the goodness of God wouldn’t cut them off from experiencing the goodness of Godso their limited ability to understand friendship with God wouldn’t impede them from experiencing friendship with Godso their theology wouldn’t undermine their ability to encounter the nature of Gods kindnessso their understanding of the reconciling love of God could be experienced without their belief in the retributive nature of God getting in the wayso their devotion to the law would not cut them off from experiencing graceso their perspective of mercy could bend the knee to mercyso their thoughts on justice wouldn’t divorce them from experiencing justice

And I think he disappeared from their sight for the same reasons.

He didn’t want them to screw it up by asking questions that would only address understanding but have little to do with faith; that burning within the heart that we steward long before our heads catch up.

Why did He hide and then disappear? Because if He hadn’t, all of their preconceptions would have become questions that cut them off from simply reveling in the wonder of resurrection life.

Jesus wanted them to recognize and understand one thing and one thing only “did not our hearts burn within us when he spoke to us on the road; did our hearts not know Him even when our minds couldn’t yet understand.”

Hank engaged with them, or rather, Jesus engaged with them through Hank, a complete stranger who seemed to have no idea who Jesus was.

Jesus didn’t want what they knew to cut them off from revelation.

Jesus was convinced that Hank, a stranger, could expose, reveal and transform their broken ideas about Jesus better than Jesus could.

Jesus sidestepped their fallen preconceived ideas about Jesus by coming to them as a stranger. He knew their knowledge and understanding would deprive them of revelation. He didn’t want their ideology to get in the way of the burning heart that knows a Love that is beyond understanding. (See Eph 3:16-19)

Jesus Is The Way

Let me be clear, I am absolutely sold on Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I have never been surer that Jesus is the only way to the Father. And I’ve been a follower since I was five. But Jesus doesn’t have an ego.

He doesn’t need us to call Him by His name before He reveals Himself to us. He doesn’t need our prayers before walking beside us.

He walks with everyone down every road, sometimes as Jesus, sometimes as the stranger, always to reveal Himself to us so we can repent, so we might experience His great affection, the joy of our salvation.

While I’ve never left Jesus, I can’t tell you how many times He has walked beside me as Hank, the stranger, so my thoughts about Him didn’t get in the way of truly knowing Him; so I might repent and leave my broken beliefs about Him.

Dear Church, lets repent of our idolatrous obsession with the limits of our understanding regarding His goodness, His reconciling love, His mercy, grace, kindness, and justice.

Let’s trust that He is the best communicator on the planet, brilliant at revealing Himself to us. As my friend Jessica Kane says, “…it’s not that all roads lead to God, but rather our Father will go down any road to be with us…”

Let’s humbly partner with Him by stewarding the burning so we might recognize His great gift of resurrection life and live confident in and as His great affection.

Excerpted from my forthcoming book, Leaving (& Finding) Jesus
CLICK HERE to Pre-Order

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Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God in a world traumatized by the religious abuses done in the name of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… Conquering the “I am not” Lie

by Lloyd Clark | November 18, 2020 | Articles, Faith, Intimacy, Lloyd's Corner | 1 Comment

The incarnation is the basis for healthy thinking. Therefore, the idea that I am not the expression of His image and likeness can no longer attach itself to my thoughts.

Read More The Father Never Turned His Back

by Jason Clark | July 1, 2014 | Articles, Faith, Popular, Prone To Love, The Fathers Love | 14 Comments

The Father never turned His back, He never left, or forsook Jesus, He never abandoned, not even for a moment. His love was just as good as it’s always been.

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Published on December 01, 2021 11:28

Can You Be Saved After You Die?

Times Two Daddy

Can you be saved after you die?

Many years ago…

It was bedtime and I was snuggling Eva. I told a story about a bunny princess named Gertrude who only wore plaid and a squirrel prince named Hank who only wore pajamas.

I paused for the expected interruption and then listened, smiling to tears, as Eva made her revisions. Gertrude became Lizzy with a beautiful pink dress. Hank became Lizzy’s best friend Molly. She too had a beautiful dress, hers was purple, and they also had ponies.

And as Eva imagined out loud, I thanked my Father for the wonder of this girl. At that moment, I knew love like I never had before.

We transitioned from storytime into our goodnight communion.

“Eva, you’re my favorite. I love you best,” I said. It’s a family phrase, a motto. I say this to all my kids. And it’s true, every time.

“I love you best too daddy,” she responded and the game had begun.

“I love you to the tops of the trees and back.” I smiled.

“I love you to the tops of the trees, the moon, the stars, to Jupiter and back.” She knows how to play the game.

I went big, “I love you to the top of the trees, the moon, the stars, Jupiter, the universe, and to infinity and beyond.”

We continued for a few more minutes each taking turns surpassing the last statement, a million, billion, gazillion, a googleplex, to infinity and beyond.

I had just exhausted my imagination with a litany of love when she looked at me cleverly; I could see the wheels spinning in her little mind.

Then she said, all clever like, “Times two, daddy.”

Times two, daddy. It flips everything on its head.

A five-year-old applies the smallest multiplier she comprehends and it blows up the foundations of all measurement-based thinking, including all the measuring that goes on within the Christian faith.

We have all played this game in some form or another. And we love this game because it reveals something profoundly beautiful and true.

You see, this is a game of measurements with a measureless revelation.

Measureless & Timeles s

“Can you be saved after you die?” I think that’s a question asked from a finite perspective on the nature of love…

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Eph 3:16-19

Paul, using the language of earth, plays the game I played with my five-year-old describing God’s love as wider than forever, longer than eternity, higher than a million, billion, gazillion, and deeper than infinity and beyond. And then he encourages us to try and take Loves measure; to be “filled” to “the fullness.”

After Paul has exhausted his imagination with a litany of love, he smiles cleverly. At least, that’s how I imagine it. Then, with all the guilelessness wonder of a five-year-old, he says, “times two, daddy.”

Or,

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” Eph 3:20-21

The nature of God is love (See 1 John 4: 7-8).

Love is an infinite revelation (See Eph 3:16-21).

Love was before time existed (See John 17:5 & 24)

“Before time existed?” That statement stretches the imagination of most time travelers like us. What does it even mean?

The nature of love is that it’s beyond our capacity to comprehend. The moment we think we have its measure, a five-year-old blows up our understanding with, “times two, daddy.”

Love Is,

reconciling,

self-giving,

beyond time and space,

beyond and our ability to count or measure;

we can’t get our heads around it,

nor do we have enough words to describe it.

But wonderfully, we try, and along the way, we awaken to, discover, and rediscover its measureless ways.

And we know this love is true. We know beyond understanding that the measureless nature of Love is truer than anything else that’s ever been true; truer than life or death, powers or principalities, fears or worries, the present or future, not even the powers of hell can separate us from this measureless love… (See Rom 8:38)

Penal Substitutionary Atonement

“Can you be saved after you die?” The question I’d ask in response is, “Is God’s reconciling love limited to the constraints of time?”

God is love. He was before and will be after. His love is an ever-expanding revelation. Every measurement we attempt to apply to LOVES nature can be undone and exposed as infinitesimal with a five-year-old’s multiplier of two.

As Christians, we’re aware of the indwelling measureless nature of love, know it to be true beyond our capacity to understand, know it’s our salvation. But like Adam and Eve, deceived by the illusion of control, we often demand that God’s love fit into the box of our finite understanding.

This is where a proper academic theologian would write about atonement theories and specifically, penal substitutionary atonement. But I’m not a proper academic theologian, I’m just the dad of that five-year-old. I’m just a guy pushing against the lie of separation that torments most humans today; a good many of them professing Christians.

My thoughts on penal substitutionary attornment? It’s a fallen, self-righteous infatuation with the delusion that humanity is separated from God, and makes a religion out of measuring the distance between us.

It suggests that MEASURELESS LOVE determined humanity outside the parameters of His measureless love. As if Love could stop being wider than forever, longer than eternity, higher than a million, billion, gazillion, and deeper than infinity and beyond. As if an infinite God must submit to our finite equations regarding salvation, as though His love for us can be measured and then paid for in blood.

Penal substitutionary atonement practices in separation and retribution while promising some vague future reward that’s impossible to partake of today. It’s so belittling to the nature of God’s love as to be laughed at, but sadly this atonement theory has worked its way into Western Christian thought.

Sadly, Christians have had to navigate this measurement-based thinking while clinging to scraps of experiences with measureless love like a sailor clings to the wreckage of a ship lost at sea.

We know, in our hearts, that only a love that is measurelessly good, a gift freely received and freely given, can save us. But we keep drowning in the ocean of the church’s religious infatuation with making people pay.

And hell is how we ultimately pay, now or later.

And as to later, the clock is ticking.

The Clock Is Ticking…

“Can you be saved after you die?” Well, if God’s wrath is eternal but His mercy and forgiveness is finite, then I suppose not…

The ticking clock is one of the most used tropes in Hollywood. There’s a bomb and clock attached to it, and it’s counting down, and there’s a red wire and a blue wire. And if the hero cuts the wrong wire, its smithereens for him, or her. And if it’s a good movie, it’s smithereens for the whole world.

It’s called the race against time. Without time, we have nothing to measure the potential destruction against. If the clock isn’t ticking, the bomb can’t go off and there’s no reason to watch that movie.

For those who practice in retributive thinking, where God is punitive and hell is his ultimate eternal punishment, time is actually their god as well. Even measureless reconciling love must submit to it.

In measurement-based systems, God’s forgiveness and grace and kindness, and reconciling love are ultimately limited aspects of His nature, while we redefine wrath and condemnation as God’s eternal and defining attribute. Every measurement-based system essentially preaches that what Adam did in the fall has eternal ramifications, but what Jesus did at the cross is limited and constrained to the ticking of a clock, as though God’s forgiveness, mercy, grace, redemption, reconciliation, and restoration must submit to when the clock strikes zero.

You dismantle the bomb before time runs out or time gets its revenge, sadly, his is the measurement game so many Christians are taught to play.

But Jesus dismantled the bomb and the entire measurement-based system, He stepped inside that delusion and set us free to play the game I played with my five-year-old; a game where the “times two daddy” reveals an ever-expanding, never-ending revelation of the perfection that is the nature of God and His heart toward us.

The idea that Christ died as a payment for anything is a fallen finite way of thinking, a delusion, what seems right in the finality of time; and Jesus stepped inside that measurement-based delusion at the cross and blew it up from the inside out – get it.

Every measurement-based paradigm is a counterfeit of who God is. He set us free from measuring distance and separation. He revealed we are one.

And yet we Christians practice in this finite way of thinking every day with the finality of hell being the ultimate arrogant, controlling, and manipulative condescension.

We’ve determined humanity’s salvation is not discovered in the mystery of the measureless reconciling nature of God’s love but instead based it on our ability to count, to measure.

The retributive lens on God makes Justice about our capacity to comprehend addition; it makes grace nothing more than a balancing act and puts limits on mercy, forgiveness, and kindness.

Everything is about limits in a measurement-based system, which some people refer to as The Law…

Like the Rich Young Ruler who, after confirming he’d done all the law required, asked Jesus, “What else am I lacking?”

“What else am I lacking” is the beginning and the end of a measurement-based perspective of God.

When measurements are our lens through which we perceive the cross, our God isn’t Love, or loving, our God is Time, and salvation is determined by the ticking clock and whether we say the right prayer, or measure up, before our time runs out.

So,

“Can you be saved after you die?”

I don’t know.

And also,

I know beyond understanding, “…that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow

— not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord…” Rom 8:38-39

Excerpted from my forthcoming book, Leaving (& Finding) Jesus
CLICK HERE to Pre-Order Now

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Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God in a world traumatized by the religious abuses done in the name of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva.

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by Jason Clark | February 4, 2021 | Articles, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Popular | 2 Comments

Look, if a future punishment is the only thing keeping a person from hurting others, by all means, that person might need to keep believing in hell. But let’s not pretend that person is whole or free. And whatever we do, let’s not give that kind of thinking a pulpit in our lives.

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Published on November 09, 2021 14:11

What Am I Still Lacking?

The Rich Young Ruler

A young fella came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do so that I may obtain eternal life?”

Jesus answered in the language of the man’s understanding. “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” The young man asked, sincerely.

Jesus gave him some of the greatest hits.

“You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false testimony; Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The young fella replied, “All these I have kept; what am I still lacking?”

I imagine Jesus nodded excitedly, his love for the young man evident on His face. He had to love the question.

“What am I still lacking?

It’s a good question, a recognition that something is missing, an acknowledgment that something still doesn’t measure up, a confession of incompleteness.

What am I still lacking? is the conclusion of living in the context of law instead of grace.

What am I still lacking? is the beginning and end of every transactional approach to God.

Jesus had to be thrilled as He told the young man how He might experience life without lack. “If you want to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

The young man desired a beautiful destination. He was looking for a way to arrive. Jesus gave Him an answer, He participated in the young man’s earnest pursuit, He honored the young fellas desired destination.

The problem was, the rich young ruler was traveling down a road that couldn’t deliver him to his destination.

And Jesus, the narrow road, the open door, essentially said to the young fella, “Your desires are good, your pursuits are righteous, your disciplines are holy, your destination is admirable, but You can’t get there from here.”

You’re traveling on the wrong road, you’re living in the wrong paradigm, you’re looking through a flawed lens, you’re missing the whole story. (see Rom 8:2 Galatians 2:19) It’s astounding how often I have sought the right destination on the wrong road; how often I have applied every principle, followed every commandment only to find myself asking God, “what am I still lacking?”

The young ruler wanted Jesus to give him one more thing to add to his “to do” of earning and coming up short, living in a cycle of lack and incompleteness.

And Jesus cut to the quick, He gave the fella something impossible to do, which was the whole point. “Go sell everything you have and follow me…”

Jesus essentially says, “You’re gonna have to leave every one of your self-righteous earning beliefs about God. You’re gonna have to completely walk away from that transactional way of thinking. I love your experiences, the scriptures you’ve memorized, the principles and disciplines you’ve practiced, I honor that, but your transactional approach to God, that’s gotta go. Son, everything you know and all that you are must be submitted to and then redefined and rediscovered in the paradigm of my reconciling love.

Leave your behavior focused earning systems, your sin conscious approach to righteousness; lay down your right to be offended, to be for or against, put away your ego adoring religious systems, what seems right to a man, stop participating in power through control; THEN pick up your cross, a self-giving reconciling love, and follow me.

Young fella, if you want to be complete, you gotta get off the road you’re on because you can’t get there from here…”

To be continued…

See Matthew 19 for the story of the Rich Young Ruler.

Excerpted from my forthcoming book, Leaving (& Finding) Jesus
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Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God in a world traumatized by the religious abuses done in the name of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva.

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by Jason Clark | July 28, 2021 | Books, Faith, God Is Not In Control, Interview, Intimacy, Podcast | 0 Comments

Jason introduces the book he is currently working on, Leaving (& finding) Jesus, which challenges readers to stop building their faith upon the broken foundations of a transactional view of God, and instead, embrace the powerful understanding of reconciliation and self-giving love that truly transforms our lives and our world.

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Published on October 20, 2021 12:29

Flip Your Lid with Kim Honeycutt

Flip Your Lid with Kim Honeycutt E27- Jason Clark / Leaving (& Finding) Jesus

I had the incredible honor of conversing with psychotherapist Kim Honeycut for her podcast.

Below is a synopsis of our conversation. It was a good one!

Jason Clark is a pastor, writer, producer, and many more titles. He is also a cisgender, white male who was removed from a church because he had different ideas about the Bible. This is his story about leaving and rediscovering Jesus.

For more on Kim Honeycutt or the podcast CLICK HERE

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Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God in a world traumatized by the religious abuses done in the name of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva.

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by Jason Clark | October 17, 2011 | A Family Story, Articles, Faith, Prone To Love, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

I am a good father, I tell my kids all the time and they believe me. But as amazing a father as I am, I don’t hold a candle, or a firebrand, or any other source of light to my heavenly Father. He’s the cat’s meow… yeah, I’m bringing it back.

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Published on October 19, 2021 23:03

Equality With God?

..I believe Jesus is God’s thoughts regarding equality; that the definition of equality is discovered in a triune God stepping into flesh and blood. And I think Jesus, fully God and fully man, displayed this equality through His union, oneness, and intimacy with Father and Holy Spirit.

I’m writing about the equality Jesus described in John 17:21 when He said, “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me…”

A triune God became one of us without leaving union. Then He prayed we would know this same union; this same equality with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and with each other.

When I write about equality with God I am writing as a created being about my Creator. I am not suggesting equality in the context of transactional thinking, or based on a measurement system, that would be foolish.

I am writing about equality in the context of relationship.

I am writing about the equality Jesus described in John 15:13 when He said, “There is no greater love than this, that a man should lay his life down for his friends.”

I am describing an equality that can only be discovered through sacrificial love.

The cross is what directs my thoughts about equality.

Jesus revealed love as sacrificial, laying his life down for His friends, you and me. Jesus’ love received and given is where equality is discovered and experienced.

Jesus revealed equality as a love that prefers one another, a love that involves free will, submitted to free will. It’s the equality of wives and husbands submitting one to another because husbands and wives love each other as Christ loved the church (see Eph 5:22).

Equality is realized when we lay our lives down for one another. “Take up your cross and follow me,” is how equality is implemented. Sacrificial love is the birthplace of equality and we love sacrificially because He first loved us this way before the foundations of the earth. (See 1 John 4:19 & Eph 1:4) Equality is the fruit of sacrificial love.

Can you imagine a church that practiced this equality?…

Excerpted from my forthcoming book, Leaving (& Finding) Jesus
CLICK HERE to Pre-Order Now

PRE-ORDER NOW!

Jason Clark is a bestselling storyteller who writes to reveal the transforming kindness of the love of God in a world traumatized by the religious abuses done in the name of the love of God. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… KIM HONEYCUTT / SHAME, AND WHAT TO DO WITH IT

by A Family Story | February 10, 2021 | Crisis of Identity, Faith, Interview, Intimacy, Leadership, Rethinking God Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos / Season Two, The Fathers Love | 2 Comments

In this podcast, Psychotherapist Kim Honeycutt addresses shame, blame the trauma of rejection. She brilliantly highlights our intrinsic worth, our identity in Christ, and the journey from rejection to acceptance.