My brain has been all over the place this past week, well probably this whole month as I have been intentional about acknowledging different aspects of my life, my choices, the people in my life, those who have left, etc. This past week has been interesting because I have had to acknowledge the ways I still pastor and minister to people and how I have needed to define those terms for myself and acknowledge that they mean to me. I had to acknowledge those places where for me they were still artificially attached to my being attached to a formal congregation, which met in a formal building, and had formal worship services. It was reminders from my wife and friends who helped me in the process of detaching from the meanings others had and still do ascribe to those words and to redefine them for myself.

I have had to acknowledge how when people hear I am a reverend that they fill their minds with assumptions about who I am, what I believe, and my life in general. While I have no control over how others perceive me, I do have control over how I perceive myself and the image and story I create for myself and for others to observe.