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Picture a branch still attached to a tree. Now ask a simple question: how long each day does it stay connected?

Ten minutes? Twenty? Once in the morning and once at night?

Of course not. It stays connected all the time. And it doesn’t work to remain attached. The tree does that.

Jesus used this exact picture. He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (John 15:5).

In today’s short video, I show you what that means for the pressure you feel about how much time you spend with God each day (through Bible study, prayer, etc.).

read more…

Do you ever feel like a fraud around other Christians?

Maybe you know someone who leads a small group every week. Maybe you see someone at the gym reading their Bible between sets (I do!). You feel like a fake because you fell asleep during prayer last night. And the only thing you studied this morning was your TikTok app.

Hear me: You are not a fraud.

For years, many Christians have measured who’s a “real” Christian by activity. More Bible reading meant more legitimacy. Prayer time became a measure of closeness to God. Miss a day, and you start to feel like you’re just playing a part.

But this is not how the earliest Christians understood their relationship with God. read more…

I used to think grace was God’s backup plan.

Like He set up the rules, hoped we’d keep them, and then when we couldn’t, He scrambled and sent Jesus as a save.

That’s not it.

God knew you before He made you. Which means He already knew the whole “perfect” thing was never going to work. Not for you. Not for me. Not for anybody who’s ever lived!

So the cross wasn’t Plan B. It was the plan.


Peter said it: God chose Jesus for this plan “long before the world began” (1 Peter 1:20). Not after Adam and Eve sinned. Not after you and I came along and made our own mess of things. Before any of it.

If you’re the type who replays things at 3am—the mistake, the thing you said, the thing you didn’t do—I need you to hear this: you didn’t fail a test God expected you to pass. You just found the reason He came.

Praise Him for that.

(This is basically the heart behind my book Permission to Be Imperfect. I wrote it because I needed someone to tell me this, and I figured you might need it too. That’s why I’ve extended my offer to get it for a donation of any amount.)

Remember: grace isn’t God’s damage control. It’s His design. (A point I make even scientifically in the first chapter.)

“Why does God feel distant?” is one of the most searched phrases among Christians.

And I get it. For years, my relationship with God felt inconsistent. Some days I felt close to Him during worship or devotions. Other days, I felt I was talking to a wall.

Yet Scripture assures God’s presence with you never fluctuates. Not farther away when you sin. Not closer when you perform well. He is already as near as He will ever be, living in you.

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you. —1 Corinthians 6:19



For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” —Hebrews 13:5

Still, if this is true, why does He often feel far away? In a word: shame. When you believe closeness is based on performance, your mind disqualifies you the moment you think you failed. Cue the distant feeling.

That belief is a lie worth examining closely, not a season you simply wait out.


Permission to Be Imperfect is where I help you take it apart. Get your signed copy today for a donation of any amount.

The woman with the issue of blood had suffered for twelve years.

In that culture, her condition made her ceremonially unclean—untouchable, really. She couldn’t worship in the temple. She couldn’t be around people without making them unclean too. Her illness isolated her in a way that went far beyond anything physical. 

Then one day, she heard Jesus was passing through.

So she fought through the crowd, reached out and touched the hem of His garment. And the bleeding stopped instantly.

But I don’t think the real healing was the moment the bleeding stopped.

It was the moment Jesus looked at her and said, read more…

Most preachers will tell you God loves you despite your sin. That’s not bold enough.

The Bible says that while we were still sinners—not after, not once we cleaned up—Christ died for us (see Romans 5:8). Which means God’s love didn’t wait for you to get your act together. It didn’t wait for the apology. It didn’t wait for the breakthrough. It didn’t wait for Sunday morning.

God loves you right smack in the middle of whatever you’re doing right now.

And here’s what nobody tells you: read more…

I was 16 the first time I tried snow skiing. Standing at the bottom of the hill, watching people weave through pine trees and light poles, I was both amazed and terrified.

The final piece of advice the instructor gave our group before sending us down: “Don’t look at the trees or the poles. Focus on the open path in front of you.”

When someone asked why, he replied: read more…

Most people know that comparing yourself to others is a problem. But there’s a version of comparison that sneaks into the church and goes unnoticed: measuring yourself against spiritual “standards.”

Maybe you compare your prayer life to what you think it should be. Or your generosity. Or how often you read your Bible. You figure, at least you’re measuring against something good. But I’ve found that still leads to the same place: exhaustion and shame. You feel like you’ll never quite measure up.

Paul warned about this. In Romans 8:5-6, he said that read more…

My grace is all you need.
My power works best in weakness.
—2 Corinthians 12:9

I used to read that verse and feel vaguely disappointed.

Not because I doubted it. But because it felt like a consolation prize. Like God was saying, “I’m not going to fix this, but here, have some grace.” That didn’t feel like good news. It felt like a polite no.

The Greek word Paul uses tells a different story.

read more…

For much of my life, I tried to fix things about myself that never needed fixing.

I was an introvert in a world that rewarded extroverts. A self-described tech geek at a time when that wasn’t exactly cool. Even my theology was built from various Christian influences that some had a hard time pinning down.

I spent years uncomfortable in my own skin, convinced that if I could just become someone different, I would finally be OK.

It didn’t work. But looking back, I think God was up to something in that.

Because I’ve come to understand that the things we try to change about ourselves may not be read more…