Hello, my name is Kevin.

 “Earth's crammed with heaven, 
And every common bush afire with God, 
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”

―Elizabeth Barrett Browning

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

-ee cummings

I have wrestled with reconciling scripture, the church, faith in God, and the real world. There are those who look at these and do ugly, awful things. These are the ones who turned me away. There was something false there. I could not go where they were going.

Then I began to notice the ones who looked at scripture, the church, faith in God, and yet lived in both a dream world and the real world at the same time. Sign me up! Winter has thawed and Spring has come. What is different about these people and the faith they practice?

The homesickness of the exile, the longing of the lovesick- these make sense to me now. I have begun to see the reality of God’s beautiful story woven into all the things that stir me. Here, I share what I find along the way.

I have been married for over twenty years and have four children. If for no one else, I write this that they may know I did not follow” the piper at the gates/ leading mice and men down to their fates (Josh Garrels, Farther Along).” I leave this that they may know love and beauty are the pillars of all things real and worth having. This is the Way of Jesus and the promise of the Spirit to regenerate our broken and diseased hearts. When confused, choose love over syntax.