This picture is from my Freshman year in High School. Cross around my neck, bible in my back pocket, and Christian shirt advertising that faith has consumed my thoughts and hopes for the world. Thirty-nine years later, the contents of that new wine remain unchanged today, though the containers I’ve placed it in have been blown apart time and time again.

Salvation back then meant conversion to a religion. Today, I understand salvation as completion by faith, unto our true self, hidden in Christ yet found transparently in God from the foundations of the Earth. Seeing our true name written in the Book of Life means that there was never a time when we did not exist within the perfect mind, wisdom, and knowledge of God. Discovering our ontological center is geolocated within the ontological center of God radically reshapes our understanding of “Who we are.” It solidifies what it means to be an image bearer, a child of God, a dialectic of spirit and flesh.

Knowing who we “really” are is not as easy as it seems. In fact, the self-delusion of the world seems to be intentionally, willfully, and perniciously turning the volume up on this very subject while simultaneously distracting and disorienting a generation of people who are oblivious to the depth of our being.

Identity politics are out of control. The “woke” ideology is so ironic that the evil beneath it is called “good.” Do we as a people really believe that we know who we are apart from our Maker? Do we really believe that we can “identify” with a self that is other than how we are created to be? How did we ever come to believe that we are what the propaganda of institutional power says we are? Never in our history has our world been more focused on being true to ourself while our ontological night has been so dark.

“You do you.”

“That wasn’t me.”

“You don’t know me.”

“He or she is so fake.”

“Don’t judge me.”

“I can finally just be myself.”

Everyday, our world skims over the mine field of ontology oblivious to how these statements mock and condemn our invisible state of despair. The reaction formation, denial, and psychological subterfuge do not mask in the least our deeper sense of how far off the mark our world has moved. It is not coincidental that to the exact degree that we have turned our backs on God, to the same degree we have lost touch with ourselves. Our world seeks to extend the facade as long as possible in order to avoid the sobriety of who we are or what we’ve become. We seek anything that will anesthetize us from the despair over our refusal to be our self.

Never before has the work of spiritual transformation, or ministry needed to be more focused on reorienting the lost soul back to their Source and Maker, from which we can find and live our true purpose and most fulfilled life. I seek to do nothing else in all I do and I do this within every framework of my life. Parenting, coaching, my daily work, my online ministry, writing or living.

The ministry of this blog and my work is a life preserver thrown directly into the turbulent seas of our fictional lives. Over the years, this audience has grown and as you each stick around, I’ve heard countless stories of how you have been truly awakened to who you are in God and how it has transformed everything in your world. This is the proverbial “red pill” to export you out of the matrix of pseudonyms into the discovery of our true name. To all of you who have shared your journey with me, I want to express my deepest gratitude. I count it one of life’s greatest privileges to serve you in this space.

The remnant who are awaking are subverting the principalities and powers and lifting the veil of the Now but not fully yet Kingdom where all the rules are counterintuitive but lead to the healing of the Nations. You all give me tremendous hope that the dark night is finally giving way to dawn. We have a long way to go, but the signs of renewal, restoration, and healing are steadily emerging and converging. I thank you all that I can share this experience with you.

Until finding our ontological center becomes literally the only REAL thing, all these words will sound like mumbo jumbo, or a word salad that lacks a cohesive framework. I don’t write this way as a cryptic code for innies, I do so because these are the only words I can scramble to find which as James Finley would say serve to point us to the unsayable. Yet somehow, those emerging in the ontological dawn, can follow these words to where they point, and our collective experience is to nod in agreement. And that is why I do this work. I have no other motivation than to bring as many as possible into seeing beyond everything.

Thank you for nine years of walking together, learning from each other, and serving our hurting and disoriented world. Peace unto you all. Happy New Year.