the unlikely orange

Q:  greg, we haven't heard from you since july 1st; where have you been?  what have you been up to? A: ....and, by this time next week, we'll have three more crossed off!  just making memories, and building a life together.  oh, and having a blast in the process.  see you in august.  

"MLK" by Derek Russell, 2013 hope.  it's what i've built my ministry on. well, not exactly.  hope that isn't based on anything is just wishful thinking, or worse.  so i've built my ministry on hope in the love of Jesus Christ, who died for love and rose again.  i've built my ministry on this idea that love wins.  that love wins over hate, over fear, over pain, over addiction, over war, over oppression, over everything, even death.  i've built my ministry on that love.  of course, it is centered on the death and resurrection of Jesus.  which means it takes belief, or faith.  it is often mixed pretty heavily with doubt, but at my core, i believe. so, to recap: my whole life is really about trying to live and proclaim a wild-eyed and radical hope, which is based on the unthinkable, unquenchable, inseparable love of Jesus, which i experience through a (sometimes diluted) faith that i cling to, with clenched fists and strained muscles. ...