Yes, I know journies is misspelled.  There is a perfect explanation… faith – life – is full of ups and downs.  Faith is a journey, and not a perfect one either.  What better way to express that than the misspelling of journeys.

I am not a born again Christian.  I have always had a relationship with God.  From my earliest memories up until now, God has always been an integral part of my life.  However, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t turned away or ignored or walked down different paths.  There have been times when I have shut God out.  There have been times when it felt like God wasn’t with me.  But that’s part of the journey.

This blog will be a mishmash about my faith and life journey.  Some of it will be deeply personal and sad and frustrating.  Some of it will be full of joy and life and praises.  That’s life and my faith is expressed through my living.  That means that I will make a lot of mistakes.  And I will ask for forgiveness.  And I will seek to do better.  And I will live a better life putting God in control.

My prayer is people who read my blog will find a little bit of themselves and their own faith journey.  I want people to walk away knowing that having a relationship with Jesus means having relationships with other people.  It means loving people right where they are in their own lives.  And we all know loving people can be really hard.

And of course you need to know I am on a journey to becoming a Deacon in the United Methodist Church.  Riverside United Methodist Church in Moline is my home church, and I couldn’t ask for a better faith home.  We are a group of perfectly imperfect people trying to change ourselves to follow Jesus.  This group of people have graciously supported me the last 30 years of my life and have chosen to support God’s calling for me to become a Deacon.

My family is incredible.  I am married to a wonderful man who has always supported me (even when I wasn’t listening to God).  I have two adult step-children (this is the only time I will refer to them as my step-children), one teenage son, and one granddaughter.  I have parents and siblings and in-laws and nieces and nephews and cousins and friends who have moved in and out of my life.  All of them have participated in shaping who I am as a child of God.