Beginnings

There is something both mysterious and beautiful about beginnings. They’re a definitive moment where something that was not — simply is. Whether it’s the turning breezes of a new season, the opening of a perfectly wrapped birthday gift or the dramatic opening scenes of tilted yellow text slowly scrolling and then drifting into the galaxy (Star Wars fan here if you didn’t catch that). Or perhaps that soul searching moment when a newborn infant gazes deeply into your eyes for a few seconds longer than you ever expected. In whatever form, the mystery of what happens after that moment and its unfolding narrative; herein lies the beauty of beginnings. And although the story of every beginning may not end in glee, we have to believe hope always lives amidst the journey.

Our Beginning

This past December, on a date in downtown Detroit, Erin and I both agreed that the story we are journeying deserves a medium. We are in no way seeking recognition or a place to puff ourselves up; rather, to create a space for us to convey and express in thoughtful formats our experiences and their musings.

Erin and I both love writing. Erin previously in blogs, myself in preparing for public speaking, and both of us in college courses and personal journaling. The empty white screen and it’s rhythmically blinking cursor is always inviting us into its unlimited potential. So if our journey, stories, and reflections may be of some benefit or encouragement to others, why would we hold back the power of our joy communicating our experiences? So here’s to the beginning of whollyhome.life!

Why Wholly Home?

Simply put: Jesus spoke it to us. Now I know I may lose a few of you with that statement but here is the honest truth: we are fully devoted disciples and followers of Jesus Christ. We believe and live by his life, his teachings, his sacrificial death, the power of his resurrection, the reality of his present voice through his Spirit, and the promise of his triumphant return. The gospel story of Jesus has transformed us and is the foundation of both our personal lives, our joint married life, and the family home life we are committed to establishing. All of these we submit for his glory and we unashamedly boast only in his name. Just as a disclaimer, all future posts will be in this worldview perspective. 🙂

Oh right, wholly home. Yes, Jesus spoke it to us. If you take a moment and really look at Christianity as it reads in the Bible, it’s less about a “religion” and more about a relationship. And in any healthy relationship, you actually converse with that person. So in prayer and through revelations found in the scriptures, Jesus has been highlighting the themes of “home”, “wholeness”, and “holiness” to us. Their deeper explanations are better served in a later post but to sum it up: God has called us to foster a dwelling place for him to transform ourselves and those around us into the whole, holy, and full life he promises.

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

John 10:10

This goal must be seen in a particular lens, otherwise, it’ll be a blurry misunderstanding. One needs to recognize that this earth and the life we’ve come to know is a temporal “home” — it is not our final destination. For those who have confessed with their mouths and believe in their hearts that Jesus is Lord, heaven is our eternal home. There’s a mysteriously beautiful kicker to this lens, so please don’t miss this: although heaven’s glorious totality is yet to be experienced, its realities may be known in the present. Just look at how Jesus even instructed us to pray:

“When you pray, say ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.'”

Luke 11:2

On earth as it is in heaven. The presence of our heavenly home is accessible in our present earthly wanderings. We want that! We want to experience its power and joy in the highest heights of this life and also in its seemingly mundane moments. The reality is —  we can.

Don’t you feel at times as though something is missing? Like there’s a couple of pieces to the puzzle of life we must’ve dropped on the floor when rushed to open the box. Let’s face it, we’ve all been there. We try to shove the wrong piece into what we think will fit the voided spaces in our lives. A broken relationship, a diagnosis, a lost job. For those of who don’t know, Jesus designed the portrait that your life puzzle will one day fully display. Don’t you want to see the finished picture? Or will we leave those hard, confusing, hurting spaces empty? This life is too short for us to miss out on the full life our creator designed us to joyfully participate in. He wants us to know and experience its whole beauty and it’s available even now. If we trust him, he will make it holy. Please join us as we journey together into this new beginning.