I think it’s time for Good Trouble and to start flipping some tables.
For too long we’ve confused being nice with being faithful. We’ve stayed seated. Stayed quiet. Stayed polite while the temple filled with money changers.
Jesus wasn’t crucified for being nice. He was crucified for flipping tables.
He walked into the house of God, saw exploitation, saw corruption, saw people using the name of God for profit and power, and He didn’t write a polite letter. He made a whip. He turned over tables. He drove it out. John 2:15.
John Lewis called it Good Trouble. Necessary trouble. The kind of trouble that says love is not passive. Love protects. Love confronts. Love refuses to look away.
So I’m asking you, brother and sister in Christ:
Stand up when it’s easier to sit down. Speak up when it’s safer to stay silent. Flip the table of injustice in your part of the world. Flip the table of corruption in your church, your neighborhood and politics. Flip the table of lies in our political system. Regardless of party affiliation.
We were never called to fit in with this world. We were called to shake it.
I BELIEVE THAT IN THE FACE OF EVERY NEIGHBOR, WE CATCH A GLIMPSE OF THE FACE OF GOD.
Not just the neighbor who looks like us.
Not just the neighbor who agrees with us.
Not just the neighbor who votes like us, worships like us, speaks like us, or comes from the same place we do.
Every neighbor.
The hurting neighbor. The lonely neighbor. The immigrant neighbor. The poor neighbor. The forgotten neighbor. The neighbor who is struggling. The neighbor who doesn’t believe what we believe.
Jesus didn’t tell us to love only the people who were easy to love.
He said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” — Matthew 22:39
And when Jesus described the Good Samaritan, He shattered the walls people had built between “us” and “them.”
Maybe that’s the challenge for the Church today:
Stop looking for reasons to separate people and start looking for opportunities to love them.
Because every person we encounter is someone made in the image of God.
So before you judge them, see them.
Before you condemn them, listen to them.
Before you walk past them, love them.
Before you ask, “What do they deserve?” ask, “What would Jesus do?”
Because sometimes the person standing in front of us isn’t an interruption to our ministry.
They ARE the ministry.
Jesus said, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” — Matthew 25:40
So today, look a little closer.
You may discover that in the face of your neighbor…
you are seeing a glimpse of the face of God.
Love your neighbor. See the person. Serve the hurting. Welcome the stranger. Feed the hungry. Lift the broken. And let the world see Jesus through the way we love.
Because the Gospel isn’t just something we preach.
I have some questions for the Church and the Christian Community.
Would Jesus separate families from each other?
Would Jesus force children off food assistance or healthcare while they are already struggling to survive?
Would Jesus disrespect people, call them names, demean them, and then claim it was all being done in His name?
Would Jesus terrorize an immigrant who is working hard to provide for their family?
Would Jesus use Scripture as a weapon to justify hatred?
Would Jesus turn His back on His neighbor because they were different, poor, undocumented, politically opposed, addicted, broken, or simply didn’t look like us?
When I read Scripture, study the life of Jesus, and look at the way He treated people, I keep coming back to the same answer:
NO.
No.
No.
No.
Jesus touched the untouchable.
Jesus welcomed the rejected.
Jesus fed the hungry.
Jesus defended the vulnerable.
Jesus showed compassion to the hurting.
Jesus loved His enemies.
Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors.
Jesus didn’t tell us to find reasons to hate people.
He told us to love God and love our neighbor.
And here’s the uncomfortable part:
We don’t get to put Jesus’ name on something simply because we believe we’re right.
If our politics make us cruel, something is wrong.
If our theology makes us hateful, something is wrong.
If our Christianity makes us dehumanize people, something is wrong.
If we’re screaming about protecting Christianity while refusing to show the love, mercy, compassion, grace, and truth of Christ…
we may be defending a religion while completely missing Jesus.
I’m not asking you to agree with me politically.
I’m asking something much more important:
Does the way we treat people look like Jesus?
Because one day, we’re not going to stand before Jesus and explain what our political party believed.
We’re not going to stand before Him and defend our favorite politician.
We’re going to stand before HIM.
So before we say, “I’m doing this in Jesus’ name,” maybe we should stop and ask:
“Jesus, would You do this?”
Because if the answer is no…
then don’t put His name on it.
BE THE HANDS. BE THE FEET. BE THE LOVE. BE THE TRUTH. BE THE LIGHT.
And above everything else—
BE LIKE JESUS.
That’s the Christianity this world desperately needs. ~OC
We have said things we wish we could take back. Made decisions we wish we could undo. Trusted people we shouldn’t have trusted. Ignored warnings we should have listened to. Taken roads we never should have traveled.
But here’s the truth:
Your mistake does not have to become your identity.
A mistake can become a Classroom when you are willing to learn from it.
But it can become a Coffin when pride keeps you from admitting it, repentance keeps getting postponed, and you continue making the same destructive choices over and over again.
Don’t waste your pain.
Don’t waste your failure.
Don’t waste the lesson.
Learn from it. Own it. Repent from it. Grow from it. Then keep moving forward.
You don’t have to stay buried in yesterday because you made a mistake yesterday.
Grace is bigger than your failure.
Mercy is greater than your mess.
And God is not finished writing your story.
The enemy wants your mistakes to bury you. God wants to use them to build you.
So get back up.
Take the lesson.
Close the chapter.
Walk forward.
And remember:
YOUR MISTAKES CAN EITHER BE YOUR CLASSROOM OR YOUR COFFIN.
DON’T DIE IN A LESSON GOD INTENDED TO TEACH YOU.
Get up.
Learn.
Repent.
Overcome.
And keep fighting the good fight.
Your story isn’t over.
Jesus still saves. Jesus still restores. Jesus still redeems. And Jesus can take the broken pieces of your life and create something beautiful.
While I was lying in an ICU room at a local hospital, fighting for my life, Tommee Profitt’s new project, Human, was released.
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
As many of you know, things did not look good.
This was the second time this year that I had been hospitalized and found myself fighting for my life. There were moments when the road ahead looked incredibly uncertain.
But while I was lying there in that ICU room, I put Human on repeat.
Over and over.
And over again.
Human is, in many ways, a simple project—beautiful instrumental pieces centered around the piano. There are no complicated words. No elaborate message being preached through lyrics.
Just music.
But somehow, those piano notes said everything I needed to hear.
That album didn’t just become background music in my hospital room.
It ministered to me.
It brought peace into a room filled with machines, monitors, alarms, medications, uncertainty and fear.
And something else happened that I didn’t expect.
It touched the people who walked through that ICU door.
Doctors.
Nurses.
Hospital staff.
Family.
Friends.
People would come into my room while Human was playing, and for a few moments, the atmosphere seemed to change.
The music became part of the story.
Part of the battle.
Part of the healing.
For me, Human will forever be connected to those ICU days.
Not because the album saved me.
God did.
Not because music performed a miracle.
God did.
Not because I somehow fought my way back on my own.
God carried me.
Today, I’m home.
I’m recovering.
And my new medical team is amazed at how far I’ve come.
After everything that happened, I don’t take that for granted.
All praise, honor and glory belong to God.
He never left my side.
Not in the ICU.
Not in the darkest moments.
Not when things looked impossible.
Not when I was fighting for my life.
And not now that I’m home.
He was there through every breath, every prayer, every tear, every medical treatment and every uncertain moment.
And I’m incredibly thankful.
I’m also thankful for artists like Tommee Profitt, whose music became an unexpected companion during one of the hardest battles of my life.
Especially Human.
Sometimes we don’t realize how powerful a gift we’ve been given until it finds us at exactly the moment we need it most.
For me, Human found me in an ICU room.
And I will never hear those piano notes the same way again.
They will always remind me of a battle I survived…
A God who never abandoned me…
And another chapter in this crazy, beautiful journey called life.
I’m home.
I’m still standing.
I’m still fighting.
I’m still overcoming.
And most importantly…
God is still writing my story.
May you have a beautiful, peaceful and blessed day.
And wherever you are today, whatever you’re facing, remember this:
You are not alone.
Keep fighting.
Keep believing.
Keep overcoming.
And never forget who is carrying you through the battle.
There are things in your life that money cannot fix.
Things doctors cannot explain. Things friends cannot carry. Things politicians cannot change. Things you cannot solve by trying harder.
But there is something more powerful than your circumstances:
PRAYER.
Prayer is not the last thing we do when everything else fails.
Prayer should be the first thing we do because we know WHO holds everything in His hands.
I’ve prayed when I had no answers. I’ve prayed when I was afraid. I’ve prayed when my body was broken. I’ve prayed when the night seemed endless. I’ve prayed when all I could say was, “Jesus, help me.”
And sometimes God changed the situation.
Sometimes He changed the circumstances.
And sometimes He changed ME in the middle of the circumstances.
That’s the power of prayer.
Prayer doesn’t mean we will never walk through storms.
It means we never walk through them alone.
The Bible says:
“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” — James 5:16
So don’t stop praying because you haven’t seen the answer yet.
KEEP PRAYING.
Pray over your marriage. Pray over your children. Pray over your health. Pray over your enemies. Pray over your church. Pray over your community. Pray when you’re strong. Pray when you’re broken. Pray when you have faith. Pray when you’re struggling to find it.
Because prayer isn’t about convincing God to care.
He already cares.
Prayer is about bringing our hearts into the presence of the One who can do what we cannot.
So lift your head.
Get on your knees.
Open your mouth.
And PRAY.
Because the God who heard Moses, Elijah, Daniel, David, Ruth, Peter and Paul…
STILL HEARS HIS CHILDREN TODAY.
And when you don’t know what else to do—
PRAY.
When you think there is no way—
PRAY.
When the enemy tells you to quit—
PRAY.
When you have nothing left—
PRAY.
Because your circumstances may be bigger than you…
BUT THEY WILL NEVER BE BIGGER THAN YOUR GOD.
DON’T GIVE UP. DON’T GIVE IN. DON’T STOP BELIEVING.
KEEP PRAYING. KEEP TRUSTING. KEEP STANDING.
JESUS IS STILL ON THE THRONE.
And sometimes the greatest breakthrough begins with the simplest words:
Watch what happens when a political party has nothing left to stand on.
The conversation changes.
Facts become insults. Debate becomes name-calling. Ideas are replaced with attacks. Leadership becomes fear. And when persuasion isn’t enough, suddenly there are promises, favors, and bribes designed to buy your loyalty instead of earning your trust.
That’s not leadership.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth:
If your position is strong, you don’t need to destroy the person who disagrees with you.
You should be able to defend your ideas without calling someone stupid.
You should be able to debate without demonizing.
You should be able to disagree without treating your neighbor like an enemy.
And you should never have to buy someone’s vote to convince them your ideas are worth believing in.
I don’t care what letter is beside your name—D, R, or anything else.
Hold them ALL accountable.
Don’t worship a party. Don’t surrender your conscience to a politician. Don’t let fear manipulate you. Don’t let anger become your identity.
Think. Question. Research. Listen. Then decide.
Because America doesn’t need more political tribalism.
We need people willing to stand on truth, integrity, character, and principle—even when doing so costs them something.
And as a Christian, my ultimate allegiance isn’t to a political party, politician, ideology, or government.
My allegiance belongs to Jesus Christ.
So I’m going to love my neighbor—even when we disagree.
I’m going to speak truth—even when it’s uncomfortable.
And I’m going to refuse to be manipulated by insults, fear, division, or political bribery.
Don’t let a political party tell you who to hate. Don’t let a politician buy your loyalty. And don’t surrender your God-given ability to think for yourself.
Stand on truth. Stand on principle. Stand on Christ.
