I was very blessed by our Thirsty Souls Zoom meeting last evening. There
were so many great things that were talked about.

One of the things that caught my attention was when you, Katrina,
brought up the idea of knowing who we are. This has been on my mind all
morning. Not because I’ve never thought about it before, but because I
realize that I haven’t truly dealt with this question. I’ve struggled
with this for most of my life. Two life experiences really point out
this struggle.

In 2005, I retired from the NSA. That same year, my wife and I moved to
New Hampshire, leaving the place where we had lived for 23 years. At the
church where we had been, I had been the youth leader of the teens,
young adult leader, adult teacher, and an elder. When we moved, all of
that was left behind. I struggled for maybe 3 or 4 years to gain a sense
of who I was.

In September of 2023, I lost my wife. Again, I’ve struggled to find
myself and to determine my purpose. As I took our discussion before the
Lord, I found a place for new growth as part of my journey with Christ
and to mental health.

My identity has been horizontal rather than vertical. Who I was depended
on my job and who others thought I was. Part of it was based on
community, NSA, youth group, young adults, church community, husband,
father, etc. What was missing was the vertical identity.

All of my thoughts would take up too much space here, so I’m going to
start a new discussion on Thirsty Souls where we can look more closely
at this topic.

Let me just share this idea which is rolling around in my head. As
created beings, created in the image of God, in one sense all humans are
children of God. But for Children of God goes a step further. Maybe
even more than “who we are,” it’s more about “whose we are.” I want to
explore this. Let’s talk about it.