"There will always be the older white woman in Walmart who stared at us with sheer disgust, or the African-American mother who looked at us and just shook her head.”
In this modern age of perpetual consumption—news, entertainment, food, and endless digital stimulation—the idea of voluntarily going without feels almost...radical. Yet for the earliest...
"I could feel hot, salty tears coming down my face. I sat and cried silently... I was scrunching myself up against the wall as far as I could. All of a sudden, someone from behind us taps on the guy’s shoulder..."
In churches across America, a quiet but consequential conversation is unfolding. It often begins with a question—sometimes whispered, sometimes posted publicly on social media....
'"Many people expect a pastor like me—a 29-year-old with enough piercings and tattoos to make them think I might have an “in” with my peers but not enough to totally freak them out—to know how to fix it, or even to be a draw.'
"I think that for many men, we think of gentleness as a sign of weakness. We think that if we are soft-spoken and light-hearted to those around us, we will be seen as weak or timid."
