Category: Traveling Companions-Relationships with Others and self
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From a One-Room Schoolhouse to a Lifetime of Learning: A Tribute to Teachers Who Shaped My Life
For the first years of my education, I attended Union School in Greene County, Mississippi — a small, rural school where six grades shared one room, and the seventh and eighth grades were together in another. Looking back, it feels almost like a scene from a history book, but for me, it was simply where…
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Temperance as a Fruit of the Spirit: Lessons from F. D. Maurice and John Stuart Mill
Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22–23 that one of the fruits of the Spirit is temperance—or self-control. This fruit reminds us that Christian maturity is not just about passion or conviction, but about living with balance, restraint, and wisdom that serves the good of others. When I think of temperance, I see how it shone—though…
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Rediscovering the Kingdom: From Adam Smith to F. D. Maurice
When we hear the phrase “the kingdom of God is here now,” many of us imagine a spiritual ideal, a distant reality yet to come. But Jesus’ teaching often emphasized a present, active kingdom — a call for justice, mercy, and love to transform society today. Surprisingly, there’s a historical thread linking this vision of…
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Radical Love
Dr. Patrick S Cheng, Professor at the Episcopal Divinity School, stated the following in his book Radical Love: 1. “Radical love, I contend, is a love so extreme that it dissolves our existing boundaries, whether they are boundaries that separate us from other people, that separate us from preconceived notions of sexuality and gender identity,…
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Swimming Upstream
Life is challenging. Growing up in Mississippi as the son of a Baptist preacher, I learned quickly I was to conform to the church’s teachings and the area’s culture. From an early age, I felt different. I didn’t fit into the norms. I have been that way all of my life. It seemed like I…
The Curious Pilgrim 