When Mario got out of prison and went to church, he set two goals for himself. First, he wanted to give away more money than he spent on drugs and alcohol, and second, he wanted to be the opposite of his father. Mario’s dad physically abused all of his kids, and fed Mario alcohol in his bottle as an infant. Being the opposite of his dad wasn’t going to take much, but sometimes the internal conflict that thought brings can produce its own difficulties. Mario struggles with anger. Mario struggles with trust. But he fights those things with service. He serves this Haitian community by giving it money and food.

One of the things bothering me through this whole process was how horrible evangelicals were about defending their faith. Whenever I heard someone make the reason for their faith “because the Bible says it” I wanted to rip my ears out. I would definitely rather hear “because I just do”. Everyone puts their faith in things they can’t see, so I’m okay with one of those things being God. What I’m not okay with any longer is people checking their brain at the door and accusing scientists of hating God as a reason why they are researching and proving their hypotheses.

What we put inside us gives us life. What we see and hear and think is just as important as the food we ingest. Why don’t more people devour God’s word?

But why did Falwell Jr. Go gung ho with guns a blazin’ for Presidential Candidate Donald Trump? Why did Ted Haggard come out as a leading opponent of legislation legalizing same sex marriage in the United States when he had been practicing homosexuality for years? Why am I just now writing the things I’m writing for the Holman Report, despite the fact that I’ve believed them since the mid 2000’s?

Now here’s where the system is broken. You no doubt walk into the building with your “judge eyes” on and you rate everything. How is the atmosphere when I walk in? Were the people friendly, but not desperate to have our family there? Is the coffee from Starbucks? Is the music God’s music from 18th century Europe, a blended mix of southern gospel and 1990’s choruses, or the newest raging pop rock from our fellow Christian brothers and sisters down under? Do I like what the male pastor is saying from the stage? Was he truthful enough? Did he make me feel good about the Bible? How was his communication flow?

Social media can be painful and we can all learn lessons of tolerance and humility the longer we use it. I would challenge you however, especially when you’re “in the wilderness” to use it sparingly, shut it off when it makes you hyper emotional in any way, and never ever respond out of anger. Chances are your response will not be well thought out enough to allow you to remain level-headed.

So that’s what this page is about and the direction we are heading. Thank you for being a part of this corner of the world. We will be launching a website in the next few weeks, and as I mentioned before, personally I will be self-publishing a novel which will be released in 2020. Please continue to write messages, discuss, and share our articles on social media, and if you’re interested in sharing an article, send it my way, and we can talk.

Who are you going to live with, Mom or Dad? A horrifying question no child should have to answer, but which most need to at some point. For me, I’m a “kid” in his mid-fifties having to answer this. My friends the pastors and their families, my wife and I and everyone else will find what answer works for us. For the moment, we have to pray and lean into God and each other, and not allow our light dim too much.