I remember sitting there on the dirty concrete floor of my dad’s workshop. The cold and damp cement had caused those moldy old porno magazines my dad kept there to have a dusty feeling and a stale smell of mildew. I had stumbled upon that sinful stash; a tangible mark of my dad’s struggle that would, in time, become my own. I think I was probably about 4 or 5 years old and I knew shame in that moment. From that early exposure to a reality of sin far beyond my tender age, I kn

This blog was originally posted at Courage International's Truth and Love website. “You seem very…managed.” I sat across from a priest on a retreat. He had just heard me describe a few elements of my relational history. This was his response. “I mean, it’s sort of like a filing cabinet,” he went on. “You pulled open these nice, neat folders to show me, then put them back in.” In the immediate aftermath of the conversation, I felt frustrated. You can’t be emotional all t