Ben Sayin'

Actions, words, in person or even on social media. We all have the opportunity to present ourselves however we want.

We can pretend.

We can pretend to be an awesome father who spends every spare minute with his son and daughters. We can pretend to be a scholar who has the answers to everything. We can pretend to be a badass who can beat up anybody who gets in his way, to protect his family. We can pretend to be a true romantic, as an example of what it means to be a husband, or we can pretend to be the perfect example of how a Christian should live their life. Continue Reading…

To Steven’s new small group leader or youth pastor,

You’ve probably heard success stories about a kid who just showed up one day, awkward as all get out and uncomfortably inappropriate. Then a leader comes along and takes this boy under his wing and mentors him through the thick and thin, even getting him to head up prayer time. Well, Steven’s story is probably a really good example of one of these.

At least for the first half of that, not so much the 2nd.

I have hesitated writing this to you because I really want you to have your own experience with him. However, I wish somebody would have told me a little bit about his personality ahead of time, so hopefully by sharing this with you it will be a completely opposite story than mine. You see, the first time I met Steven was when he was in 7th grade. We were on our way to a weekend retreat, all piled up on the charter bus and he had asked to sit next to me. For the next hour and a half he told me his life story about being adopted, having his older brother yanked away, and hearing him justify the type of physical and verbal abuse he endured before getting adopted.

It’s the kind of story that is painful to hear, and as of writing this letter this story does not yet have a good ending. Continue Reading…