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Photo by: Joshua EarleIn John 4 there’s a story that grabs me. It’s a story of shame being turned to honor. It’s a story that is, in its purest sense, a story of redemption. In John 4 we read of a Samaritan woman who has to come and draw water in the heat of the day. She couldn’t come in the morning like the other women of her city because she was an outcast. She had five husbands and the one she was currently with, wasn’t her husband. A scandalous woman! She arrives at the well to see a Jewish man hanging out. This was shocking as many Jews would walk around Samaria altogether. Then this man did the unthinkable, he asked for water. It almost certain that he knew what kind of woman she was, coming alone to the well in the middle of the day. How could a Jewish man ask such a sinful woman to draw him water? The encounter presses...

Shortly after I got serious about trying to follow Jesus I became consumed with “the truth.” I printed off hundreds of pages of articles from the Internet that helped me argue for “the truth.” I wasn’t interested, at that time, with “the truth” so much as I was interested in being right. Often, as I shared my faith I camped out on a specific verse, John 14:6, which reads — I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. It has taken me a long time, a very long time, to grasp the reality that Jesus said he is the truth. Truth is personal. When truth is found in a person, it is relational. It is both, subjective and objective. When truth is a person it means that you can engage with the truth in a much different way than you do with 2+2=4. I desperately want people to know the truth. This means that I want...

Photo by Ivan KarasevOver the last few weeks there is one verse that has been recurring in my thoughts and in my heart and in my soul. It’s been bubbling up like volcanic lava. Micah 6:8 says, He [God] has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? This verse. This one verse is tearing me up. It is chasing me down and it emerges under every rock, every conversation, every reading, and every time I consider this world. Over the last couple of weeks I have been wrestling with issues of race. It’s so hard. My brother is a police officer and one of my closes friends is too. They are unjustly portrayed by this world. There is real systemic racism that is unjust and innocent people are dying as a result. Too many leaders in the church want to simply brush...

I have a dirty secret. Honestly, it’s not that much of a secret. I am white, American, and male. Those three facts alone mean that I experience on a daily basis a level of privilege that many people don’t. OK, many of you are about to stop reading and your eyes have rolled into the back of you head. I actually heard them roll. I have a teen-agers, trust me I can see an eye roll a mile away. Please keep reading. This is going somewhere. It’s not another “white man self-loathing” kind of piece. My parents were divorced when I was nine. My mom worked multiple jobs to make ends meet and provide for my brothers and I. Unlike many, my Dad was present in our lives. We saw him every other weekend and he always paid his child support. If we needed money for sports or a school trip he provided it when we asked. I am confident that if we were...

Happy fall Subversive Journeyers! I trust that you are well and that you’re enjoying the beauty of the autumn. This is my favorite time of year. I love the temperature and the colors that begin to explode in the trees and in the sky. Last week I wrote something that might be the most important thing that I’ve ever written. Today, I might have written the second most important. I don’t know, maybe they’re just noise. But, I would love for you to read them and share them if you think they’re worth anything. Here is What I Know… It’s Not That Hard. It’s Exactly That Hard. Grace and Peace, Daniel M. Rose Two of the most important things I’ve ever written. was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story. Read the responses to this story on Medium. from The Subversive Journey https://danielmrose.com/two-of-the-most-important-things-ive-ever-written-bc770606c056?source=rss—-bbc765b79ec5—4via IFTTT ...

Photo By <a href=“https://unsplash.com/@riccardofissore”>Riccardo Fissore</a>Today, I sat in on a meeting where the main topic of discussion was “racial reconciliation.” We were all pastors and all but one of us were white and male. The lone exception was a black woman. She is someone that I count as a friend and I think the feeling is mutual. Our conversation was started because there was a community worship service that was poorly attended by white congregations. My congregation didn’t attend. I didn’t even share it with my congregation. It just didn’t fit into the calendar or the mission. Nevertheless, this was the reason we began discussing “racial reconciliation.” People were sharing their great wealth of knowledge behind why there is a racial divide here. It was decided, with a great chorus of “Mmhmmms” that there is a “spirit” oppressing our area. It was also decided that we need a prayer program to try to fix the situation. I don’t know if I said more...

Photo by <a href=“https://unsplash.com/@reka”>Korney Violin</a>Two young black men were riding home from football practice in my car. The four us were laughing, cutting up, and making fun of each other. We came up on multiple police cars and officers investing something. These two young men immediately folded their hands in their lap, became quiet, stared straight ahead, and were silent. After we passed the officers there was a moment and then the teasing, laughing, and cutting up began again. My brother and many of my closest friends are police officers. I love police officers. I am grateful for them and the service they provide. We couldn’t live the lives we do without them. But, in that moment it, there was fear, a raw fear that sucked the air out of my car. This fear demanded two young men to immediately become silent upon seeing officers even while being in the car of a white man. We can love and respect and support our police...

Photo by <a href=“https://unsplash.com/@jakemeyer4”>Jacob Meyer</a>The way of Jesus is not easy. One of my favorite quotes is from G.K. Chesterton who said, Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried. To follow Jesus, to be a Christian, is decidedly hard. To follow Jesus demands us to stop focusing on ourselves. If we claim to follow Jesus, then we must become a people who are living after him and living according to “the Way.” A central tenet of the Jesus way is forgiveness. Jesus said, For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. In Colossians 3 Paul echoes what Jesus says, Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has...

Photo by <a href=“https://unsplash.com/@lucistan”>Luca Upper</a>Good morning! I hope that you’re well and that you are experiencing grace and peace. Today I opened Medium to find that The Subversive Journey had cracked 100 followers. Thank you to those of you have been here from the start. I hope that you will continue on with me and that you will continue to share the things here that you find helpful. In light of reaching this little milestone here a couple of posts from the past that are still some of my favorites. Maybe you will like them too: Baseball and Grace (February, 2015) Baseball, Redemption, and a Hospital Room (May, 2009) Thank you again for joining me on my journey! The 100! was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story. Read the responses to this story on Medium. from The Subversive Journey https://danielmrose.com/the-100-eebcabb02b2f?source=rss—-bbc765b79ec5—4via IFTTT ...