I’m just an ordinary man in love with and loved by an extraordinary God…seeking to love God, love people & follow Jesus.

I’m sharing God’s love through service, work, love, irreverence, compassion, wild hope and reckless abandon as well writing, poetry, healing, community building, servant leadership, prayer, play, and so much more!

I was a “pained soul” but, thanks be to God, I am now a “PainTed Soul” living deeply, soulfully, deliciously, simply & contemplatively. In August 1985, Jesus revealed himself to me in such a complete, holy, and powerful way…and I surrendered to his Love and Lordship. And in June 2011, I followed Jesus into new territory when I answered the Spirits’ tug and ventured “across the Tiber” becoming Catholic. I love the Catholic Church deeply, but I still feel just as ‘At Home’ fellowshiping alongside my fellow brothers and sisters, whether in a house church, a pew, or a mountainside.

From August 2008 I have resided nestled close to the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the time in Pulaski, Virginia and currently in the Potomac Highlands region of Capon Bridge, West Virginia. This rural mountain move came after living and working 18 years in the ‘cosmopolitan village’ of Washington, DC (in the ‘Hoods of Adams Morgan, Brookland, Mount Pleasant, and Foggy Bottom). And also in there was some time spent in Hawai’i, NYC and Vermont as well…

Over the last 25 years my life’s work – both my jobs and my ‘Mission’ – have been a patchwork quilt of seeking and serving the addicted, the homeless, people living with HIV/AIDS, and those with (so-called) physical disabilities as a counselor, trainer, friend and servant. Thrown in that mix, for good measure, I spent many years as a consultant (whatever that means), doing public health training, nonprofit management, community development, social ventures and even some time in the ‘Dot Com’ craze. All of this, whether tent-maker or defined ministry, has been because of a hunger to follow Jesus and his example as written in Luke 4:18-19 (see Isaiah 58; 61).

The Real Deal is: I love Jesus, Juno, Java, and Jazz (as well as God Rock, Grunge, Indie, and Vivaldi-like music). I love writing and reading poetry and nonfiction. I’m into Crazy Love, Messy Grace, ‘Wasteful’ Beauty, and Lavish Mercy (all the things God is into). I love tattoos (got a bunch). I dig St. Damien, Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day & the Catholic Workers, Red Letter Christians (and all radical Jesus lovers), simple church, and my enemies as well. I love my family (blood and spiritual) and friends (SKL and Padre to single out two). I love Mass, house church, and the Silence of empty churches. I love fellowship around the Table. I dig the Spirit’s movement, playful irreverence, and lighting a fire under people’s bums as well as stirring up trouble for the Kingdom [this is starting to sound like a Personals Ad...doh!]! I love the grandiosity of the mountains and the sweet sound of gentle rivers.

I love comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable with Abba’s love & grace!