I’m Giving Up Masturbation for Lent
This Lent, I’m giving up masturbation. And I realize that might sound really wrong or off or like I clearly didn’t grow up in a liturgical tradition and have no idea how this Lent thing even works. But regardless. I’m doing it. I’m not masturbating for the next few weeks. It may not quite be a “fast” by technical, theological terms. But it’s a necessary refocusing.
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How My Best Friend’s Relationship Affects Me
One day, we finally grabbed lunch together, and I just poured out my heart to my best friend. I pleaded for him to take his relationship slowly and not to forget about me. While saying that, something just clicked in my brain. I started tearing up; right then and there, I asked my best friend to forgive me for being a jerk.
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YOBcast Episode 046: Church Inclusion
Many SSA/LGBT+ people struggle to find inclusion in the church — a safe place at least, and a nurturing place at best. This episode, we bring a very special guest onto the show. His name is Matt, who among other claims to fame (which we waste little time diving into), also pastors at Ryan’s church and oversees Ryan’s ministry to non-straight people, Intersect. We dive into their ministry relationship and overarching friendship, also discussing with Dean issues of sexuality, singleness, safety, and nurture of sexual minorities in the church.
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It’s Okay for Men to Cry
Is it okay for men to cry? Jesus did, as we see in the famed Lazarus story of John 11. But what about men in today’s culture? In this month’s episode, I talk about crying over the death of a dog and the death of a car and how it’s okay for men to have a more sensitive side. Even if it’s the only side.
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Breaking Down the Idol of Brotherhood
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’d made brotherhood my idol. Looking back, I see it so clearly now. So madly obvious. I made this pursuit of brotherhood and even ministry my idol. And I got the wind knocked out of me on the asinine climb.
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What Does Jesus Think of Me Now?
The guilt was overwhelming. How would I tell anybody what I had done? What would they think of me? Beyond other people, how would these events impact my faith? Where was Jesus during all of this?
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SHIRTLESS POOL WRESTLING!!!
I don’t wonder to myself: Have I, as an adult, ever embraced another man shirtless like this before? This isn’t that kind of intimacy.
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I Like a Girl?
As I drove down the base of the mountain after listening to a sermon and enjoying some prayer, the thought once more popped into my head: “You like Annie!” I wanted to swipe away the thought again, but this time I actually considered it. Maybe I could like a girl?
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Is This Physical Acceptance With Another Man?
It felt good to be close to another man. And yet, was it right (healthy, faithful, acceptable) to like this? Is this what acceptance in a physical sense felt like?
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My Two Greatest Struggles as a Man
Tom shares his two greatest masculine struggles: capability and beauty. To counter those long engrained voices, he dives into 1 Samuel 17 and Psalm 139 for stories and thoughts from everyone’s favorite ruddy poet-king.
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