I’ve spent the past couple of days thinking about identity. When I think about the great division our country finds itself in I can’t help but think of the way our society sub-divides itself into millions of identities.

A Few of My Identities

• I identify in the youth ministry people.
• I identify with people with toddlers.
• I identify with married people in their 30s and 40s.
• I identify with people who like Notre Dame football.
• I identify with children of divorce.
• I identify with evangelicals.
• I identify with urbanites.
• I identify with WordPress developers.
• I identify with entrepreneurs and small business owners.

All of those identities talk to one another in a certain way. And, in one way or another, they build language and norms which communicate that you get it while others can’t possibly get it.

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I took my first trip to Idaho. (The list of states I’ve not been to is getting smaller and smaller.) Less than 24 hours total… it was like an appetizer for that beautiful state. 

2 quick thoughts about the trip itself

1. In my mind, Coeur D’alene was a lot closer to Seattle. But someone put a desert in the middle of Washington. They should do something about that. 
2. It was fun to hang with Lars Rood. We did a mini-roadie where we caught up on life, drank way too much coffee, and had a few middle school moments.

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15 minutes ago Ryan McRae stuck the landing.

I met Ryan a couple of years ago. We made fast friends.

Ryan’s problem was that he was stuck.

He had a good job, one that he was good at and paid him well enough. He had a community of friends, way more of a social life than I ever have had.

But he was haunted. It was a good life… but it wasn’t a great one. Incremental changes helped him  but he just sensed he was on the wrong journey.

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Follow these five fast steps to spiritual growth.

Living for Jesus is as easy as this acronym: I.N.H.I.M.

My growth plan is Jesus 1-2-3.

This stuff is the scourge of evangelicalism. It drives me batty.

Any time someone tells you that the spiritual life is easy, its a formula, or that they can guarantee ____, feel free to slap them in the face.

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From 1995 until 2002 I worked at BlueCross Blue Shield of Illinois.

First, I ran a machine that printed ID cards for their 6 million members. Then, in 1997 at the age of 21, I was put in charge of managing 15 or so machine operators who ran the machines.

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Last week, Kristen sent me a news story about Chris Baker. He’s a tattoo artist in Oswego, Illinois who does free cover-up tats for folks leaving gang life or women who have been trafficked.

Talk about Good News in the Neighborhood? I’ve never been in a gang and I’ve never been trafficked, so I have no idea what it like to have a tattoo which tells the world, “I belong to ____.”

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