Lorenzo should be alive. I had a different letter written for this week - some footnotes on the World Cup and the intersection of identity, calling, and purpose on and off the pitch.

But today, I’m thinking about Lorenzo Salgado Araujo shot by ICE agents in Houston, TX while in his car picking up his employees at a stoplight. I’m thinking about the homes he built for his families and other families as an entrepreneur. I’m thinking about his three sons who he worked hard to send to college. I’m thinking about how his sons had to hear about the death of their father on the news, because the cops and the hospital wouldn’t give the oldest son answers. I’m thinking about how Lorenzo, a father who served his family and community as a Mexican man, should be alive today.

In this week’s Cafecito Corner, I share a story about my dad and how he knew his identity as a Latino man was a superpower, not something to be ashamed about. He modeled with his life the ways that integrating our racial and ethnic identity with our sense of calling and purpose is crucial to reclaiming who we are and how we serve. Especially, when the narratives around immigrants can make us seem like a problem to be solved, rather than a people be celebrated.

I am more and more convinced every day that the legacy of dad’s like my dad, Jorge, and Lorenzo is that we must never disconnect who we are from our sense of vocation. Those raices sustain us to steward the good within us and around us.

What lesson(s) will you carry onward from your dad (and/or from father-figures in your life) as you continue to live fully alive in your identity, calling, and purpose?

Buen Camino, Caminante.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

There’s a line from a poem by a Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, that my mentor always quotes and that has been ringing in my mind and spirit all of 2026:

“Caminante, no hay camino, se hace el camino al andar.”

In May, I walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain (more stories and parables coming soon), but in preparation for my Camino, I read a description of what they call the travelers. Two words are used: 1) Peregrinos - the more popular and mainstream description of those who journey on the Camino, literally meaning a pilgrim and 2) Caminante - a less popular description meaning a way-finder or seeker. Having walked the Camino, I am more compelled by the less popular description of Caminante, as I think there’s wisdom hidden in the way-finding and seeking.

Against the backdrop of so much heaviness and heartbreak in our world right now (from election results in Colombia, to earthquakes in Venezuela, to ongoing wars in Palestine, Iran, and other countries, to rising costs of groceries, tariffs, and taxes, to fires in Southern California, to record-breaking heatwaves in Paris, and closer to home for me rent control being taken off the ballot questions in upcoming elections, even though we had enough signatures for it to move forward and the trade of Jalen Brown from the Celtics), we are all Caminantes - seeking to find a way forward, knowing that the ways we’ve been told were supposed to lead to flourishing have failed.

So, when we done all they told us to do, then what? How do we serve one another in love for our collective flourishing? How do we see ourselves as ones who can meaningfully engage the work of dream-weaving and world-making so we can build the futures we long for?

I think it begins with discerning our vocation - individually and collectively.

I have an Instagram Series called “Cafecito Corners” and in the current Collection of Episodes I’ll be exploring the Foundations of Vocation. This discernment journey is a Camino. It’s not linear, but a labyrinth that spirals deeper and deeper into who we were designed to be and how we were made to steward the good within us and around us.

Let’s walk together.

Buen Camino Caminante.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

I, like many of us, have spent the last few weeks listening to Bad Bunny in preparation for Benito Bowl this past Sunday. Not just listening to his music, but also re-remembering his story over the past several years as he’s been creating and crafting art.

In his interview with Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden before the Super Bowl, when they asked him what made Debí Tirar Más Fotos such a special album for him he shared that it was an album about returning to himself, to his roots, to his stories, and to his culture.

There is no doubt in my mind that in returning to himself and the realities of living under colonization, that his stories did not and do not reflect very real pain. We hear that pain throughout Debí Tirar Más Fotos. As much as it is an album that makes us dance - it is the dance of resistance to systems of oppression, to loss, and to heartbreak. It is a dance of resistance that provokes liberation.

And yet, what Bad Bunny showed us both at the Grammy’s and during the Super Bowl Halftime Show is that hope is always on the horizon. That we can lament the losses and celebrate the light. That we can (re)imagine futures that look different than our present circumstances. Especially, a future of the Americas that can look different than our present circumstances.

Love is the greatest revolution. Diversity is our superpower.

But we must work for that love. We must labor for the beauty of our collective diversity.

As I watched Benito offer his prophetic (re)imagination of America (not just the United States, but ALL of America - for as he said at the Grammy’s we are all Americans, not just those from the U.S.), I’m reminded that just a few years ago in May of 2018, Childish Gambino’s prophetic song “This is America” was released. Here, there was also a dance of resistance through song, but a song that told the story of the shadow side of America. Of violence, of guns, of hatred, of the death-making machine. This, too, is America.

And just last year, Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime show carried a prophetic message of the deeply rooted racial and political divides in the U.S. His performance told a story of police brutality, violence, and systemic oppression. This, too, is America.

So, from Childish Gambino to Kendrick Lamar to Bad Bunny, we see both the pain and the possibilities. The heartbreak and the hope. The anger and the joy. We are reminded that we cannot have one without the other.

This is America - a complex story. Where love is the greatest revolution and diversity is our superpower. But we must work towards love. We must labor towards the beauty of our collective diversity.

So, how do we work towards love and labor towards diversity?

What was true for Bad Bunny, is also true Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino, reflecting on our personal stories - to our roots. We must make meaning of the themes and the patterns embedded into our stories. We must read and re-read who we are and where we’ve come from and how we’ve arrived to this moment in time. We must look for the deep wisdom in our stories, so that we reimagine the way forward.

And in this way, when we tend to our personal souls, we can tend to the collective soul and become a revolution of love.

Pa’lante en paz,

sg

P.S. If you need a little support this week in reflecting on becoming a person of deep wisdom in a world of shallow truth, listen to this 27-minute podcast from the Live Fully Alive Podcast on Mental Wellness as you tend to your soul.

I’m sitting with the words of Judge Fred Biery in his court order to release little Liam Ramos and his father from ICE Custody:

Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency. And the rule of law be damned.

Unbridled power. Imposition of cruelty. Bereft of human decency. The rule of law be damned. More and more this is the heartbreaking reality of our time.

Our faith community is in a year-long study of The Exodus Story. So much of The Exodus Story mirrors the oppression of our times and on Sunday we meditated on the part of the story where the Hebrew people were on the edge of liberation from Pharaoh and Egypt.

And these words struck me:

When the King of Egypt was told that the Hebrew people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have to the Hebrew people go and have lost their services!” So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him.

This is always the way of Empire. Pharaoh realized when the Hebrew people were liberated, he lost his labor force. When he lost control, he attempted to make their lives worse. To enslave them once again. To oppress them once again. To impose harm once again.

When our Minnesotan siblings fought back against ICE Raids in their city, Trump and ICE attempted to oppress the community again by kidnapping a little boy as bait to snatch his father into custody. The rule of law be damned.

But the fight continued. Protests, calls, prayers, fasts, and even the decision of Judge Biery all came together to push back against the oppression of the Empire.

The poet activist, Diane di Prima, words in her Revolutionary Letter #8 come to mind:

NO ONE WAY WORKS, it will take all of us
shoving at the thing from all sides
to bring it down.

This is the work of the people for our times. To push back against unbridled power, the imposition of cruelty, and human indecency.

Your work will look different than mine, but it will take all of us to step up and step in to the work of liberation.

Judge Biery ends his court order with these words:

With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike,

It is so ORDERED.

You may not be a judge, but you have a part to play in these times. If you need some guidance towards discerning your purpose, the latest episode of the Live Fully Alive Podcast on Vocational Wellness is available for you.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

I am testing an experiment this year to live more liturgically. What I mean is the story of Jesus from Advent to Christmas to Epiphany to Lent to Easter to Pentecost together form a beautiful liturgical story that I long to shape my story.

I want to live into a greater story than the rush to get through time. And it seems to me that the story of Jesus offers a counter-narrative that we desperately need in these contemporary moments.

The month of January has felt like a year wrapped in one.

Last week’s kidnapping of little Liam Ramos and murder of Alex Pretti - along with countless other violent assaults by the hands of ICE Agents - are telling a story that at best is traumatic to our collective soul and at worst is deforming us to become people who we were never designed to become.

And yet, when I allow Jesus, the Good Shepherd to lead me to still water in my own moments of silence and solitude, I return to the liturgical story and let it do it’s work of reshaping my soul.

I remember that this is the third week of Epiphany. This is the third week of enlightenment. In a world that feels unbearably heavy, we could all let the light enter.

For a little over a month, I’ve been sitting with a poem called Listening to Winter by Macrina Wiederkehr.

On these cold days of winter filled with mounds of snow against the backdrop of painful news stories, there is a stanza in the poem that feels like an invitation for this week.

I am listening to the season of contemplation,
to the urgency of our world’s need for reflection.
I am listening to all that waits within the earth,
to bulbs and seeds,
to deep roots dreaming.
I am listening to the sacred winter rest.

I am listening.

The painful stories we are experiencing every day will deform us to become people who we were never meant to become, if we don’t take time to rest. To contemplate, reflect, and dream a new. To listen to the sacred winter rest.

I believe there are dreams buried inside of you that will carry us all from darkness to light. I believe there is a sound calling to you from deep within yourself.

But I know those dreams will not come alive if you do not rest your weary souls.

Where does it feel heavy in your body? Where do you need rest? What do you need to tend to this week?

This work of building a greater future and living a greater story demands all of us - but not a version of us that is worn and weary. If you need some gentle guidance for your restoration, the latest podcast episode of the “Live Fully Alive” Podcast offers a bit of support.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

Around 130AM on Sunday morning I heard a loud sound that woke me up from my sleep. I live on a major street, so it’s not unusually to hear loud sounds outside. I didn’t think much of it.

But when I opened the blinds that face the street where my car is parked, I noticed that my car was oddly close to the car in front of it. “This was not where I left my car.”

Still in my pajamas with my hair wet from my shower, I went outside into the cold to discover that loud sound was the sound that hit my car and 3 of my neighbors cars.

For the next hour, I stood on the sidewalk with one of my neighbors as we waited for the police. We took pictures. We yapped about our wet hair - both of us were getting ready for church services.

Her car was okay. Fixable. But mine. Likely totaled.

The cop came and left.

I spent the next couple hours doing what I do on Sundays…pastor our community - holding spaces for sharing stories, drinking coffee slowly, meditating on God’s story, and praying together.

But everything felt like it wasn’t real. Is this a nightmare? When will I wake up?

As the day continued on, I realized how angry I was. For the past 7 months this car has caused me nothing but headaches. I’ve put around $5000 into this car to fix it. And now this?

This was the last straw. This was the last sucker punch. This was the last pit in my stomach.

I was angry.

And thankfully, I’ve learned how to identify what I was feeling as anger and share that anger with people who are in my circle without judgment.

On Monday, when the tow truck came to take the car away, all that was left were the remnants. The pieces of my shattered car. Pieces of my shattered anger. This last straw. This last sucker punch. This last pit in my stomach.

Then, I remembered an essay my friend once wrote in college called “Peace in Pieces”. What if somehow even in this anger…I can hold anger in one hand and peace in the other. That these two seemingly opposed experiences can both be true at the same time.

This is a living story with no clear ending yet. And I’m still holding anger. But I offer it as a parable of sorts. A reminder that when life feels like it’s in pieces, maybe it can also give way to peace. When life feels shattered, maybe in the shattered places peace will find you.

And all that begins when we can become people of emotional wellness who both know how to name our emotions and share those emotions. The real ones. The raw ones. If you need a little guidance on this, last week’s podcast episode on Emotional Wellness was ringing in my head as I continue to navigate this story. With no clear endings, but with a steadfast attempt to be emotionally well through it.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

Over the weekend, I was co-facilitating a leadership development space for a group of high school Student-Athletes that our church community serves. We played a matching game where each player was given 5 different colored cups and they had to match the cups with an image on a card.

In our debrief when the game was over, I asked what were some of the hurdles they faced in matching the cups to the cards. One young woman shared that it was hard to know what to focus on - the card, the cup, or the colors.

It struck me that in a culture of distraction - where it feels like we go from one dumpster fire to the next while also trying to get to the gym, eat nourishing food, make it through meetings at work, move the needle on goals and projects for 2026, etc etc. it can be hard to know what to fix our focus - the card, the cup, or the colors.

In the most recent episode of the Live Fully Alive Podcast, I offer a brief teaching, a tool, and training on how Spiritual Wellness and how we can become people of focus in a culture of distraction.

If you need some centering support in the midst of everything hard and heavy that’s happening, take a listen! I’d love to walk with you as you learn to live fully alive.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

We are just a few days into 2026 and already the weight of the world feels heavy. Against the backdrop of the kidnap of Venezuelan Dictator Nicolas Maduro, the 5th anniversary of the Insurrection, and the murder of Renee Nicole Good by ICE in Minnesota, we are also in the six-week season of Epiphany.

Epiphany brings to memory the story of the Magi found in Matthew 2, and the ancient astronomers, who studied the stars. One night, they saw the star of David, which signaled the birth of the promised liberator. When they saw this star light up the night sky, they went to King Herod to inquire about the new king. King Herod’s fears, not unlike the fears of those in power today, led him to ask them to find out more about this baby king, so that he may worship him. But that was just smoke and mirrors on the part of King Herod. His plan was to destroy anything and anyone that threatened his rule.

In a courageous act of civil disobedience, these ancient astronomers did not play into the hands of King Herod. But instead, they worshipped Jesus freely and returned to their country freely.

The weird wonder in the sky could have given way to worry for the astronomers, as it did for King Herod, but true light always gives way to true worship.

During this season of Epiphany, when the world already feels heavy, perhaps there is an invitation to care for the state of our souls, so that we may embody light. So that we, like those ancient astronomers, may experience true liberation in a world heavy with oppression.

If you’d like some guidance for tending to your soul, I invite you to join me in listening to the “Live Fully Alive” Podcast. Here I’ll offer a 7-Part Collection that will drop weekly on Wednesdays with a teaching, a tool, and a training to equip you to care for the six dimensions of your soul during this Epiphany season.

Here’s the introduction to the Soul Care Collection:

The words of Mary Oliver in her poem, Invitation, hold true in these heavy times

Praying with you as you embody light this Epiphany.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

I’m currently watching Scandal on Netflix. When it originally aired in 2012, I was a brand new baby lawyer trying to figure out how to work, live, serve my community, stay tethered to friends, and do my laundry, so I missed a lot of TV shows in those early years of adulthood. But I am an avid lover of all things Shonda Rhimes, so I knew I would be hooked on this show.

No spoilers here, just a brief snapshot from season one episode four. The main character and baddie lawyer, Olivia Pope, is facing the weight of defending other people’s scandals and dealing with scandals of her own.

One of the members of her team confronts her for making the wrong call on a case.

“Something’s going on with you and I’m sorry about that. I am. But, that doesn’t mean that you get to stop being Olivia Pope…You are the gladiator. I would gladly follow you over a cliff. But you gotta show up. You gotta be a warrior. You don’t get to pick and choose when the real Olivia Pope walks through that door. You made the wrong call.”

The look on Olivia’s face is absolute shock, but it’s the shock that awakens her back to herself. It’s the shock that awakens her back to her purpose.

This scene exemplifies our sixth and final soul care lesson for leaders…

Leadership Lesson No. 6: Unleash Your Purpose

Much to be said on the concept of purpose. But for now, the words of Pablo Picasso hang on a print in front of my bed…

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” - Pablo Picasso

Every day, I wake up to these words and they reorient me to live with this kind of purpose: Giving my gift away.

But much like Olivia Pope, I can get caught up with the weight of life. With the weight of supporting and serving others, so much so that at times I lose myself. Lose the sense of my gift to others. And I, like Olivia, need to be reminded of who I am and how I serve, so I can unleash my purpose on behalf of those I serve.

Unleashing your purpose is all about putting the Secret Sauce that makes you, you, onto everything you do.

Soulful Leaders know their Secret Sauce.

A month ago, I began a discernment journey with emerging Latine leaders. Throughout the next 8 months, I will serve as a guide as each of them is discerning their now and next steps towards integrating and living their identity, calling, and purpose.

This is the second time serving as a guide for this journey, but one thing has been resonating with me…this season of my life is about catalyzing the calling of the now and next generation. This requires a specific kind of Secret Sauce that I’ve been reflecting on throughout the summer.

So, how do you know your Secret Sauce?

That special sauce that you can put on your context in this season…

Two-Minute Tool: Secret Sauce Exercise

Use this Tool when you need to find your Secret Sauce

Part 1: Make a list of 1-3 Strengths (something innate in you), Skills (something developed in you), and Superpowers (something unique in you - could be an actual super hero power you would like to have)

Part 2: Ask 3 people who know you well (could be family, friends, teammates, and/or colleagues) to also make a list for you

Part 3: Now you have a list of up to 36 gifts that you can give away to others, think about this season of your life. Choose 3-5 gifts that you want to bottle up and give as a secret sauce to the spaces and places where you live, love, and lead. Then, write a recipe for your Secret Sauce. (For example, 1 Cup of X-ray Vision, 1 Cup of Wisdom, and 1/3 Cup of Drive)

Throughout this summer, I’ve offered Six Soul Care Lessons for Leaders.

1. Change Your Pace

2. Name Your Pain

3. Shift Your Perspective

4. Sow Your Potential

5. Adjust Your Posture

6. Unleash Your Purpose

These are in no way an exhaustive list on how to tend to your soul as you live, love, and lead. But it is my deep hope that in some small way these lessons have encouraged and equipped you to live, love, add lead more soul-fully.

As I enter the Fall Season, I will be moving at a much faster pace serving at both the local level and national level. So, Substack will be a bit quiet.

But feel free to message me with questions and curiosities. The spiritual journey was never meant to be walked alone. Let’s live fully alive, together!

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

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If so, don’t click away without giving this post a like, comment, or share! Your engagement helps other people live fully alive. Thank you so much for reading. I appreciate you!

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It’s been a while. Among the many hats I have the opportunity to wear, one of them is a Strength and Conditioning Coach for high school student-athletes. So, the end of the summer into the beginning of the school year is all about preparing for the Fall Season.

That being said, I’ve longed to share this story, lesson, and practice with you, especially as you look towards your Fall Season and continue to live, lead, and love while tending to your soul care.

At the beginning of this year, I spent five days on a silent retreat in a monastery in Central Massachusetts. The monks at Spencer Abbey are Trappist Monks who live a contemplative life of prayer and work. They welcomed me into their Rule of Life for the week. One of the invitations they gave to me and the four other retreat participants was to find postures that would allow us to listen to God’s voice and the voice deep within ourselves. 

On day two of the Silent Retreat, I was praying the second verse of Psalm 23 (Part of my daily Rule of Life is to pray Psalm 23 every day - Monday is verse 1, Tuesday is verse 2, and onward). Psalm 23:2 says: 

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

As I was responding to the invitation to find postures that would allow me to listen, I was struck by the words “lie down” as a posture to listen to God’s voice and my own. So, that week I laid down. A lot. 

What occurred to me while lying down on my back was that this posture is a vulnerable posture. And yet, lying down on my back was also one of the most open postures I could take before myself and before God. Vulnerability opens us to listen. 

Leadership Lesson No. 5: Adjust Your Posture

During the Silent Retreat, I reflected on different postures and how adjusting my postures in three different ways could help me become a more Soulful Leader.

Posture #1: Lie down 

Every morning I take an extra moment before I get out of bed to pray the words of Psalm 23, which begins with: 

The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul.

Lying down for an extra moment reminds me of the abundance of green pastures and quiet waters that restore me in mind, body, and spirit daily. Every day Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leads me to and from the abundance. 

When Soulful Leaders adjust to a posture of lying down, we make space to listen to God’s words to us: “We live from abundance.”

Posture #2: Sit still

I begin my days sitting still in a chair at my kitchen island. As I sit still in this chair with my coffee in hand, I breathe, I pray, I reflect, and I listen to God’s voice and my truest voice. It reminds me of the words of Paul to his spiritual companions in Ephesus: 

God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 

This reminder translates into the rest of my day. Every person who I sit still with is not just sitting with me, they’re sitting with Jesus. I get to be an ambassador of heaven on Earth - of the wholeness and peace that Jesus came to restore.

When Soulful Leaders adjust to a posture of sitting still, we make space to listen to God’s words to us: “We are ambassadors of restoration.”

Posture #3: Stand firm

As I go through the days, I stand firm - with people in my community as they are on their spiritual journeys and even on the sidelines of student-athletes I get to coach. I recall the words of Paul to his spiritual companions in Corinth: 

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.

This posture can sometimes feel the hardest. Standing firm means playing the long game. Standing firms means persevering win or loss. Standing firm requires faith in something greater than temporary things. It takes courage to stand firm and not walk away from hard things. 

When Soulful Leaders adjust to a posture of standing firm, we make space to listen to God’s words to us: “We are strong and courageous.” 

Two-Minute Tool: Visualization

Use this Tool when you need to adjust your posture to listen to God’s voice and your truest voice.

Step 1:

Choose one of the phrases you most need/want to hear from God in this season:

1. You live from abundance.

2. You are an ambassador of restoration.

3. You are strong and courageous.

Step 2:

Based on the phrase you chose, determine which posture you will take for a 2-minute visualization.

Step 3:

Adjust your posture - lie down, sit still, stand firm

Step 4:

As you take the posture you chose, visualize yourself with Jesus.

Step 5:

Close your eyes or find a soft gaze and do 3-6 Rounds of Box Breathing using the following pattern:

Inhale for 4 seconds: I live / I am

Hold for 4 seconds

Exhale for 4 seconds: from abundance / an ambassador of restoration / strong and courageous

Hold for 4 seconds

You got this.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

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If so, don’t click away without giving this post a like, comment, or share! Your engagement helps other people live fully alive. Thank you so much for reading. I appreciate you!

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In March, I was in the hills of Chattahoochee, Georgia for a closing retreat with the Forum for Theological Exploration. Together, with twenty ministry leaders from across the country, we spent the last year experimenting with Discernment Disciplines to support young adults discern their vocation in various contexts. 

In one of our opening worship sessions, we grounded ourselves in prayer and on Jesus’ Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13. 

The Parable goes like this: 

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

For the past 4 months, I’ve returned almost daily to immerse myself deeply in this Parable, remembering the words of Octavia Butler in her version of the Parable of the Sower: “All that you touch you change. All that you change, changes you. The only lasting truth is change.”

Change is inevitable; transformation from change is not. So, my daily immersion with the Parable of the Sower has been an exercise not in mere change, but in transforming my mind with the wisdom of Jesus. 

There are many lessons I am gleaning from this Parable, but one important lesson is for you, dear Friend, as you tend to the care of your Soul:

Leadership Lesson No. 4: Sow Your Potential (in every field) 

I used to read the Parable of the Sower and think…”I need to find good soil, because only the good soil produces a crop. Only the good soil seems to have a ‘successful’ outcome.” 

But this reflection limits the potential of the seed. It devalues the seed as "wasted potential.” 

So, on that morning in the Chattahoochee Hills until now, I’ve thought: What if I shifted my perspective to rethink everything I thought about this Parable?

What if the Parable is less about looking for good soil, and more about sowing good seed no matter the “quality” of the field. Because the truth is - as leaders every kind of field is around us. Every kind of field is around you. 

You will sow seed on the sidewalk and it will be food for the birds - who don’t store up food in storehouses, but still eat, because God provides for them. Sometimes the provision for something unexpected or unintended comes. And it is through your seed.

You will sow seed on rocky fields and it will offer a moment (although, fleeting) of joy. Sometimes the moment of joy becomes a memory of light in the midst of despair. And it was through your seed. 

You will sow seed on thorny fields and it will offer a glimpse (although, temporary) of peace. Sometimes the glimpse of peace becomes a resource of grounding in the midst of anxiety. And it was through your seed. 

We cannot always care for the quality of the field, but we can care for the quality of the seeds we sow in every field. 

The truth about the potential you will sow…

1. Seeds hold multitudes - One seed, becomes a plant that can yield multiple seeds, but only after you sow them. So, the actual “wasted potential” is spending all your time looking for “good soil”, when “good seed” knows how to multiply. 

2. Seeds carry an entire strategic ecosystem - By design, seeds contain a structure. So, when you sow your potential, you’re sowing a way of thinking, of creating, of imagining. When you give people a way to do something, you’re sowing a strategy that can be repeated and replicated, even as it mutates and evolves. 

3. Seeds die before they live - This is the hardest part of sowing your potential. Death comes before life. The way upward is downward. The way forward is backward. Unless the seed dies, it will never live to the fullness of its potential. 

The good news about the potential you sow…

When you sow your potential, you find as Jesus found, that nothing is wasted. 

When he sowed his potential on a cross it looked like a “bad field” - it was a path when he was thrown outside the city, it was a rocky field when he walked up that hill, it was a thorny field when he wore a crown of thorns on his head. It looked like a “bad field". 

And yet, the seed of his potential was sowed in that “bad field”. His body, placed in that tomb in the garden, was the “good soil” - in a tomb, Jesus sowed the potential for life.

Every seed that you sow on every field has the potential for life, even if, maybe especially if, the field looks like a “bad field.”

Soulful leaders sow their potential in every field. 

Two-Minute Tool: Stuck. Stop. Start

Use this Tool when you need to unlock the potential of your seed. 

Stuck - Identify an area where you feel stuck? What seems to be working? Not working? What is in your control? (Remember: the quality of the field is not in your control, but the quality of the seed is in your control.)

(For example, I feel stuck leading people from a place of frustration, rather than a place of compassion.)

Stop - Identify 1-3 things that you may need to stop doing. Are there negative thought patterns that you need to interrupt? Are there destructive practices that are impacting the quality of the seed? 

(For example, when I don’t drink enough water, it negatively impacts the quality of my sleep, which makes it very hard for me to lead from a place of compassion, because I’m not well-rested).

Start - Identify 1-3 things that you could start doing. Are there small shifts you need to make in your schedule to create more margin? Who can you talk to and ask for support? 

(For example, I can make sure that I’m drinking at least half my bodyweight in water every day, so that I can sleep well and wake up ready to lead from a place of compassion.)

By the way, I give this somewhat silly example about drinking water, because sometimes the thing that will unlock your potential to sow your seed is simpler than you may believe. What you do at a micro level influences who you are at a macro level.

The future needs Soulful Leaders who will sow their potential in every field!

You got this.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

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When I was a teenager, one summer my family went to Puerto Rico for a family reunion. My family lives in Ponce, PR and my cousins were thrilled to take us snorkeling off the southern coast of the island. We got on the boat to set out for our great adventure! I slowly climbed the ladder into the clear, calm waters of the Caribbean. And I panicked. I tried every trick the snorkeling guide instructed: “just float”, “just breathe normal”, “just move your flippers left, right, left, right, left, right.”

My teenage body and brain could not “just” do these simple instructions. The second and third drops on our adventure came and went, each time they filled me with panic. 

I am decades removed from this experience, but I have lived these decades terrified of being submerged in water. Anytime I’m in a body of water, my body and brain are teleported back to that moment snorkeling in the clear, calm waters of the Caribbean. I panic. 

Stories form your soul

Stories are formative. The good ones. The bad ones. The hopeful ones. The ugly ones. Stories shape our potential. And unless we rethink the stories that are forming us, we live into those stories. We retell those stories to ourselves over and over and over again. Sometimes they shrink the potential of our souls. They stunt the imagination of our minds. They stifle us in the constraints of fear and panic. 

Rest re-forms your stories.

I recently spent the end of June and beginning of July on a small mid-summer vacation. During these few weeks, rest has invited me to reclaim my humanity and re-form some of my stories. And I believe the invitation to this kind of soul care is for you as well. The future needs more Soulful Leaders who know how to re-form their stories and souls through rest.

In rest, you can return to the very goodness of your design. In return, you can reimagine new perspectives. You can liberate yourself from stories that attempt to keep you stuck, stunted, or stifled.

Throughout this Summer, I’m sharing 6 lessons I’ve gleaned over the years to support soul care for leaders like you. Here's Lesson No. 3.

Leadership Lesson No. 3: Shift Your Perspective

Jesus invites people over and over to “rethink everything” because a new way of living was at hand and people could experience this new way of living when they followed him. 

We read this invitation as the word “repent” or the Greek word “metanoia”. At its core “metanoia” is about rethinking your mindset and shifting your perspective.

The future needs more Soulful Leaders who have the courage to shift their perspective and re-form their stories. 

Will you be one of them?

This is a question I was asking myself during my time of rest over the past few weeks. Will I have the courage to shift my perspective and re-form stories that keep me stuck?

Like the snorkeling story I began with and the decades I’ve spent being fearful of being submerged under water. 

Well, I faced my fears twice in an attempt to shift my perspective about water and swimming.

One week, I took a drive to a New England beach (nothing like the clear, calm waters of the Caribbean, much more like an arctic cold plunge) and made my way beyond the shore. Slowly, but surely I was swimming with the waves. 

The next week, I was in Florida spending time with family and we made our way to the beach. I was the first in the water, leading the way into the waves for my nieces.

I am still re-forming my relationship with being submerged in water, but in a time of rest, I’ve been released to shift my perspective about my snorkeling story. 

Here’s what re-forming my snorkeling story has revealed about shifting perspectives:

1. Soulful leaders have the courage to live from rest, not for rest

Since 2019, I’ve taken seriously God’s commandment to practice a weekly Sabbath. This practice has formed me to embrace that origin story of humanity begins with rest. God created humans on the sixth day. Then, God rested on the seventh day. His rest initiates our stories of stewardship and partnership with him. 

In ancient Jewish culture and early Christian culture, their days began when the sun set. In our contemporary culture, we view this time as the end of the day. But they had a different perspective. To ancient cultures, their day began with rest, because it was in the darkness that God continued the work that people later joined with when the sun rose. 

What if you shifted your perspective and imagined the start of your day is at the end?

2. Soulful leaders have the courage to face their fears (and failures)

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid.” These are the words from God to Joshua, Moses’ apprentice and predecessor. I cannot imagine that Joshua was not replaying the stories of Moses in his mind as he was about to step foot onto the shore of the Jordan River and the promises that God gave his teacher, mentor, and friend. I cannot imagine that the fears of not living up to a role that he inherited and a legacy that he was continuing were not causing a bit of panic as he stood on the shore of the River. And even as Joshua likely replayed these stories in his mind again and again, he’s told “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid.” 

For decades, I have been afraid of facing my fears of water. Standing on the shores of oceans, lakes, and rivers stuck in a story from my childhood. Until now. Until I shifted my perspective to recognize what I think Joshua recognized: there’s the fulfillment of a promise on the other side of our fears (and failures). 

What if you shifted your perspective and imagined the fulfillment of God’s promise is on the other side of your fear (and failure)? 

3. Soulful leaders have the courage to reimagine the future

I don’t know how Peter and Andrew and John and James did it. They were fishermen. Sons of fishermen. Fishing was the family business. Fishing was a skillset they developed throughout their entire lives. And yet, with two words, “Follow me”, they let down their nets. They had the courage to reimagine their futures to be something greater - something perhaps they longed for, but never anticipated they could pursue. 

What if you shifted your perspective and reapplied your skills in a way that could unlock a potential story that you’ve longed for, but never pursued?

Two-Minute Tool: Rewrite the Story 

Use this tool over the course of three days to rewrite a story that needs to be re-formed by shifting your perspective.

Day 1: Write a story about a time when you lacked courage and/or were experiencing a fear of failure

Day 2: Read your story sentence-by-sentence three times:

• Re-Read #1:Put a box around all the people/groups of people in the story

• Re-Read #2: Circle any feelings you wrote OR if you didn’t write any feelings, include them in the margins and/or near the sentences

• Re-Read #3: Underline the moment(s) where the energy shifts in a negative direction

• Fill in the blank: “The story I’m telling myself about myself is __________.”  

Day 3: Reflect and re-write your story

• What are 1-2 things you are learning about yourself from your story?

• What is the moment where you needed to shift your perspective in a productive direction?

• Re-write that moment of the story

You got this.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

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How’s your soul?

You’ve likely heard the phrase: “The political is personal.” Because the political is personal, it impacts the state of your soul. Every domain of your soul - whether consciously, subconsciously, or unconsciously - is being impacted by this political moment. The delayed emancipation of enslaved people, which ended on June 19, 1865 and which we remember today, is an example of how the political impacts the state of a person’s soul.

So, in the current political state, how’s your soul? How’s your mind? How’s your body? How’s your spirit?

The future needs more Soulful Leaders. Because you don’t have a soul. You are a soul.

A few weeks ago, I shared a story from 2018 when my soul was not well. Since then, I’ve realized that leadership, without soul care, is a fast-track for crash out. (You can read more here: Leadership Lesson No. 1)

Throughout the Summer, I’ll share 6 Soul Care Leadership Lessons, because I want you to live, love, and lead as a Soulful Leader. The future needs more Soulful Leaders…and you’re one of them!

I recently went to see the new Karate Kid movie. Mr. Miyagi is one of my leadership inspirations. I have watched every movie, every remake, and every episode of Cobra Kai. No spoilers here, but there’s a line that’s been sitting with me from Karate Kid Legends:

“Deal with your pain, or it will deal with you.”

In one of my training sessions for becoming a Trauma-Informed Strength Coach, I learned how to support people to unlock pain points in their body through weightlifting. Part of the training was to recognize the signs of someone who is experiencing a trauma-reaction during a workout and support them to either lean into the pain or step back from the pain. 

In a workout, as in life, pain is inevitable. And the trauma-reaction to pain is to fight, flight, or freeze out of self-preservation. This is normal. But how you move with that pain determines whether you can enter a flow-state. Flow-state turns pain into possibilities.

In her 2025 Commencement Speech at Dartmouth, Sandra Oh said it this way:

“Nothing has helped me more than being with discomfort…You can’t ghost depression or outsource a panic attack… things only started to stabilize when I looked inside and when I stopped trying to bend things to my will and stayed open to my discomfort - a new thing came through. The really deep work in life that will help you become a more grounded, more resilient version of yourself…is to be kind. Can you hold your heartbreak with tenderness and give it your loving attention? This is kindness.”

Leadership Lesson No. 2: Name Your Pain

Jesus offers us another picture of this being with discomfort. In the final hours before he is murdered as an enemy of the state, he name his pain in prayer. Deep in the night, he begs for what he calls the “cup” to be taken from him. This “cup ” is the pain he was about to endure.

Soulful leaders hold space for heartbreak

I’m always in that Jesus doesn’t hide from heartbreak. He doesn’t numb himself from the ache of pain. He deals with it. He gives it his loving attention.

Can you hold your heartbreak with tenderness?

Soulful leaders hold space for healing

And yet, the heartbreak is not the end of the story for Jesus. He surrenders: “Not my will, but your will be done.” He did not try to bend this pain to his will. He stayed open to it. In that openness, Jesus gives way to the healing for all of humanity.

Can you surrender your will for healing?

But there is a gap between heartbreak and healing.

Hope is the gap. Hope is a verb. Hope is the alive expectation of things to come. Hope is not chasing after the winds of change. It’s building for the change we long to see. Hope turns our pain into possibilities.

Soulful leaders build hope for the future.

Jesus filled the gap with the alive expectation of his resurrection over death. He built hope through surrender to a cross. The cross bridges that gap between the heartbreaks of humanity - oppression, injustice, brokenness - and the healing of humanity - liberation, justice, wholeness.

But this future - our present through the way of Jesus - happens because Jesus names his pain. He takes Sandra Oh’s Commencement speech advice. He pays attention to the caution of Karate Kid Legends. He turns pain into possibilities and finds flow-state.

Two-Minute Tool: Emotional Signposts

How do you name your pain? Start with your emotions. Emotions are not good or bad. They are signposts. They are guides that direct you. Use this 3-Step Tool to determine your next most faithful step towards building hope for the future.

Step 1: Identify It - When it comes to your pain point, ask yourself: Does it make me sad? Does it make me angry? Does it make me frustrated?

When you can name your emotions, you can respond to them.

Step 2: Understand It - Think back to your childhood: How did your family approach sadness? Anger? Frustration?

The emotional regulation scripts from our childhood, determine the emotional response stories in our adulthood.

Step 3: Manage It - Look ahead: What faithful next step are you being invited into that will build hope for the future? Your future? Your family’s future? Your community’s future?

Turning pain into possibilities, begins with small steps. Send the text. Go for the walk. Write down the idea. Listen to the voice of the genuine inside of you.

Bonus Step: Share it - Who are 2-3 people you can share your emotions with?

Soul care is collective care. Suppressing emotions will negatively impact your soul. Sharing with a small group of people who hold you accountable to you, can do wonders for your soul care.

You got this.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

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As we witness the atrocities happening from the streets of L.A. to the subway stations in Boston to the starving children in Gaza, I am reminded of the interconnectedness of our stories. Whether we like it or not, whether we realize it or not, we are interdependent beings.

“Our liberation is bound together.” - Dr. Lilla Watson

So, how can we be people of liberation in these times?

Next week is Juneteenth - a day that marks liberation from slavery for our Black siblings. A liberation that was delayed. A liberation that did not come until 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. A liberation that should have come on July 4, 1776, with the Declaration of Independence and “liberty and justice for all” (Except we know that “all” was only for white men.)

Seventy six years after the first Independence Day Celebration and thirteen years before the first Juneteenth Celebration, Frederick Douglass offered his moving speech on July 4, 1852, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July.”

“For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.” - Frederick Douglass

Four days ago, on Pentecost Sunday, I reread these words. Douglass’ words were in many ways a call for a new Pentecost. 

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. - Luke in Acts 2:1-4

Pentecost is the birthing of the Church. Fifty days after Jesus resurrected, a new beginning was born. People are empowered with fire, wind, and words to continue the liberation movement of Jesus for the good of all of humanity. 

We need a new Pentecost again. We need to reawaken the way of Jesus and the Early Church again. We need to become people of liberation again.

5 Essentials on Becoming a Liberation Movement

1. Shared Purpose

The Early Church became a Liberation Movement, because they had a shared purpose. Jesus came to liberate people to become a new humanity through resurrection, a new family through reconciliation, and a new mission through restoration. At Pentecost, they were filled with a sense of aliveness to continue the movement.

The Early Church reoriented their lives around Jesus’ 3-fold purpose: 

1. Come alive as a new humanity

2. Live alive within a new family

3. Call others alive with a new mission 

They devoted themselves to the teachings of the way of Jesus, so they could live out his purpose as a faith community.

If we want be people of liberation, then we need to reawaken our devotion to the 3-fold shared purpose of Jesus. He came to liberate. We exist to liberate. 

2. Shared Life

The Early Church became a Liberation Movement, because they had a shared life. Jesus began by calling apprentices into a close-knit community. He called them into the hard-work of being a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-generational family. At Pentecost, they spoke in diverse words that brought unity, not division. 

The Early Church reoriented themselves around shared rhythms of life that kept them in continuous connection. They devoted themselves to a unique fellowship where their ethnicities, cultures, and generational differences were not oppressed, but celebrated.

If we want be people of liberation, then we need to reawaken our devotion to staying close enough to celebrate the blessings and carry the burdens of one another.

3. Shared Tables

The Early Church became a Liberation Movement, because they had shared tables. Jesus began many of his relationships with a meal, around tables, in conversations. At Pentecost, they continued this way of Jesus, by breaking bread in one another’s homes.

The Early Church reoriented their lives around these “Love Feasts”. These shared meals at shared tables were a representation of their love for one another. They were reminded that Jesus was the host of the table - his body broken for them, his blood shed for them - and they were the guests. 

If we want be people of liberation, then we need to reawaken our devotion to regularly feasting together in close proximity. Food heals and food holds us together in love.

4. Shared Practices

The Early Church became a Liberation Movement, because they had shared tables. Perhaps the practice that Jesus engaged in most consistently was prayer. He and his apprentices prayed 3 times every day. He gave them a structure for prayer that was meant to unleash their power as his apprentices. Pentecost came, because they were praying together. 

The Early Church reoriented their lives around the power of shared practices, like prayer. Through the power of prayer they protested injustices, they healed the sick, and they spoke with authority. 

If we want be people of liberation, then we need to reawaken our devotion to collective prayers of activation, of intercession, of lament. To prayers that unleash our authority to speak life over death. 

5. Shared Sacrifice

The Early Church became a Liberation Movement, because they had shared sacrifice. Jesus models sacrifice by giving his life for the liberation of all people. After Pentecost, they were moved to sacrifice their resources, their time, and for some, their lives for the work of liberation. 

The Early Church reoriented their lives around sharing everything in common. If someone needed money, the community provided. If someone needed food, the community provided. If someone needed support, the community provided. They sacrificed, so that no one would struggle in any dimensions of their lives. 

If we want be people of liberation, then we need to reawaken our devotion to sacrificing for the common good of the community. To give our resources, time, and lives for one another.

Jesus started a Liberation Movement - with a model of resurrection, a message of reconciliation, and a mission of restoration. Anyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus, must be devoted to continuing this Liberation Movement. From the streets of L.A. to the subway stations of Boston to the starving children in Gaza. As it was with Frederick Douglass and the Early Church, may we live in the aliveness of a new Pentecost. This is the urgent call of our times.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

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As leaders, learners, and lovers the most important question we must ask ourselves over and over again is: “How is my soul?”

In July of 2018, I found myself at a leadership low. I was managing two teams at an educational nonprofit working with first-generation college students. The pressures of being in “middle management” were taking a toll on me. We were in the middle of performance review season. The expectations from the higher ups on performance vs. the hard work of the people on my teams to meet those expectations felt like they were all on different pages. And I felt tremendous pressure of managing too many people and too many expectations in different directions.

Then, I snapped. One afternoon, I walked into a room full of people I was responsible for managing and started going off about the higher ups. On their lack of understanding, lack of support, and lack of care. I claimed that I was the only one who really cared for them and if it weren’t for my advocacy they wouldn’t have received such high performance reviews.

I should have never gone into that room and spoken in such anger. Anger at the upper management. Anger at the lack of appreciation from the people I was managing.

My soul was not okay.

I had been moving at 100 miles per hour with little to no rest for years. The U.S. was a dumpster fire of school shootings, a ruthless administration, and escalation in police brutality against black bodies. My abuela passed away during Hurricane Maria just a few months earlier. I experienced a massive transition with my church at the time and I isolated myself from my faith community. There was so much going on personally, communally, and structurally. I couldn’t keep up and I couldn’t slow down.

After that leadership low, I was at a friend’s apartment. While we talked and chopped veggies, she said: “Sarah, it doesn’t sound like you’re living the abundant life Jesus wants you to live.”

And with those words…I woke up.

I realized I was sleepwalking through my life. Living on autopilot. Going through the motions of life. Flat-lining in apathy. Merely existing.

From that day, I embarked on a journey of soul care that would shift my entire life.

Throughout this Summer, I’ll share 6 leadership lessons I’ve learned with you, because I want you to live, love, and lead as a soulful leader.

The future needs more soulful leaders, because we are living in urgent times. People (even children) are being abducted from the streets without due process, funding is being cut to feed kids in school, and global wars and dehumanization rages on with no end in sight.

Soul care is collective care. The state of your soul matters, because the state of our collective soul is at stake. We need you to be well.

You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. Mind, body, and spirit. All of these dimensions are part of you. Soulful leaders live, love, and lead at the healthy integration of mind, body, and spirit.

Leadership Lesson No. 1: Change Your Pace

The average person walks at 3 miles per hour. Kosuke Koyama, a Japanese theologian, wrote Three Mile an Hour God, where he writes about the speed of love:

“Love has a speed. It’s a spiritual speed. It goes on in the depth of our life, whether we notice it or not, at three miles per hour. It is the speed we walk and therefore the speed the love of God walks.”

Koyama writes about how this “spiritual speed” is different from our “technological speed”. He contends that the call of our times is slowness.

To lead is to love.

The primary pace of Jesus is walking. Jesus walked with his friends. He walked with his neighbors. He walked with his community. From a walking pace, Jesus modeled a non-anxious leadership.

How fast is your pace?

The people you lead and love need you to be a non-anxious presence, so you can see, hear, and know them.

Soulful leaders lead at the pace of love.

From a walking pace, Jesus modeled an interruptible life. He was interrupted by the people who needed his leadership the most - the heartbroken, the rejected, and the curious.

Are you living an interruptible life?

The people you lead and love need you to be interruptible, so you can guard and guide them with care and clarity.

Soulful leaders live an interruptible life.

Two-Minute Tool: Breath Prayers through Box Breathing

Jesus gives a life-giving structure for adjusting our pace through the practice of prayer. Prayer helps us adjust our pace, because we return to the center of who we are and whose we are.

Soulful leaders love from a focused center.

Breath Prayers are ancient ways of praying without ceasing rooted in the Desert Mothers and Fathers who lived in Northern Africa and the Middle East during the third and fourth century.

Box Breathing is an ancient technique of breath work rooted in India that helps bring focus to the mind, body, and spirit.

Through the practice of prayer, you are becoming a leader of focus in a culture of distraction.

You got this.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

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It’s my rhythm to take the last week of the month off from sharing outwardly to do deep listening inwardly as I prep for walking well with others in the month ahead, plus the long weekend is coming.

But, I wanted to send a story, a lesson, and a tool from the journey that’s been sitting in my spirit for you.

About a month ago, I went to a one-day retreat with Pastors, Priests, and Guides. People from different spheres of my life kept telling me to go and I kept putting it off. “I don’t have time to take a whole day off.” “I can’t afford to pay for the retreat.”

Then, the night before the retreat (exactly 12 hours before the retreat was going to begin) I registered. I had been feeling very weary from the work of walking alongside people on their spiritual journeys.

Persevering as a pastor and spiritual guide is painful. Pastors are at an all time high of being distrusted because of abuses of power and Christian Nationalism. While at the same time, pastors are often the first to be called upon in moments of deep despair and discouragement.

So, the night before the retreat, I found myself grasping for anything that could offer me sanctuary in the midst of the hard work of perseverance.

Today, I want to talk about what makes perseverance possible.

I did not know what to expect the next day. I only knew that any time people from different spheres of my life (who don’t know one another) are pointing towards something, it is often God’s finger pointing in a particular direction.

From the first songs and prayers, I was undone and felt deeply held by this sacred, spirit-led space filled with people who were also carrying the burden of persevering.

Here’s the good news: We were made out of community with God to be in community with others. Jesus is reconciling all people to become a new family. A family who makes perseverance possible. A family where we carry one another’s burdens and blessings.

We shared our stories in triads as we walked around the Boston Public Garden on a beautiful Spring day. We shared about the visions we were persevering towards in our contexts. We shared the heartbreaks and hopes we’ve encountered on the journeys.

To the heartbreaks, one of my conversation partners offered this question:

Does it make you sad or angry?

I notoriously resonate with Sadness from Inside Out - both as a character and my overall sentiment when I am heartbroken on the long journey of perseverance.

And yet, this time - perhaps for the first time - the truer emotion was anger. Angry at God for calling me to persevere towards such a hard vision. Angry at people who were once committed to the dream of God’s heart, but then walked away when it wasn’t convenient for them anymore. Angry at all of the losses that seem to overshadow any wins.

As I sat with my group, myself, and God with that emotion for the rest of the day, I felt ashamed. Did I really just acknowledge this feeling to a group of strangers?

But at the end of the retreat, one of my partners said: “Your anger is prophetic. It’s holy. Don’t run from it. Lean into it.”

As I walked out of the building, someone stopped me before I turned to get on the subway. “I didn’t get a chance to speak with you today, because we were sitting across the room from one another. But, I needed you to know this: There is an inner strength within you to do what God has called you towards. You may not feel it or see it, but it’s in you.”

People make perseverance possible.

• People make perseverance possible, because they point you in the direction you should go, like the people who pointed me towards this one-day retreat.

• People make perseverance possible, because they provoke you with powerful questions, like my triad did.

• People make perseverance possible, because they speak prophetically to you, like my partner did at the end of the retreat.

• People make perseverance possible, because they perceive you clearly, like the man who stopped me before I got on the subway.

In particular, people make perseverance possible, when those people are rooted in spirit-led and spirit-filled communities. Far too often, I meet people who want their spirituality to be personal.

I hear all the time: “It’s me, God, my partner/family (if applicable), and occasionally you (because you’re my pastor-friend-mentor).”

A personal spirituality will not help you persevere. A personal spirituality is one built in your image, not God’s image, so you will fail to become who you were meant to be without being consistently rooted in a spirit-filled community.

Even though I had that great one-day experience with new people, my first stop was to share my feelings with my faith-community. Because if not, it's a personal experience that I’m walking alone. It’s a private story with no accountability. It’s an attempt at perseverance without my people.

People need people, because people make perseverance possible.

Here’s a simple tool:

Holding Hope and Heartbreak (Modified from Pastors, Priests, and Spiritual Guides One-Day Retreat)

1. Set a 30 second timer: Make a list of hopes you’ve been persevering towards over the last 6 months to one year

2. Set another 30 second timer: Make a list of heartbreaks you’ve been holding

3. Choose one hope and one heartbreak

4. Set another 60 second timer: Close your eyes and hold your hands open

5. Imagine the hope in one hand and the heartbreak in the other hand

6. When you feel ready, hold both hands over your heart

7. Imagine God holding his hand over your hope and heartbreak

Remember the good news: We were made out of community with God to be in community with others. Jesus is reconciling all people to become a new family. A family who makes perseverance possible. A family where we carry one another’s burdens and blessings.

You got this.

Pa’lante en Paz,

sg

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Last week, I shared with a group of student-athletes leaders on the topic of focus. One of them shared this about the one thing that hurts his focus: "Distractions keep me from persevering towards what I know I'm supposed to be doing."

Can you relate?

You know you’re supposed to be persevering towards a task, assignment, or project - or even a greater purpose - but distractions get in the way of your focus.

Here's the good news: You are more than a conqueror through Jesus who loves you. Anything that is trying to overcome you, including distractions, cannot withstand the love of Jesus for you. And that makes you an overcomer.

So, how do you fix your focus, so you can persevere through distractions?

Let me illustrate it with a story. 

The Parable of the Vivobarefoots

There are 26 bones in the human foot. Meaning that both of your feet have 52 bones. So, out of the 206 bones in the human body, a quarter of them are in your feet. 

Your feet are your foundation.

Two and a half years ago, I discovered this fact and realized how most shoes aren’t designed to support your foundation. So, I started wearing Vivobarefoots shoes to focus on the form of my feet. I started walking in Vivos, lifting in Vivos, running in Vivos. 

For the first 6 months, I only walked in my Vivos. But every day walking felt like an exhausting workout for my ankles, calves, and hips. 

Then the next 6 months, I started lifting weights in my Vivos. But lifting felt like activating bones, tendons, and ligaments I never used before. 

Then this year, I started running in my Vivos. But running felt like I was walking through quicksand. 

Whether walking, lifting, or running, every time I put on my Vivos, I had to focus on my form. Even though it was just a shoe, it changed the way that I was formed. It was changing the way I moved. The Vivos have given me a form that forces me to focus. 

Focus is the ability to concentrate on a task or thought, while filtering out distractions. Focus is a mental flashlight. When you turn on the flashlight, you fix your focus.

Persevering through distractions means developing the skill to turn on the mental flashlight. When you turn on a flashlight it gives you a form to focus on (like the Vivos have done for my feet). And overtime, this mental flashlight starts to fix - correct - your focus, so you can fix - lock in - your focus. 

Here's a simple tool to test out this week: 

Shot Clock Visualization

1. Set up a timer on your phone for 60 seconds

2. Imagine you're watching a basketball game

3. Look at the 24-second shot clock counting down the seconds for the players to take the shot. 24-23-22-21 etc.

4. Start the timer and close your eyes.

5. Keep focusing on the shot clock in your mind with your eyes closed

6. Count down from 24 to 0

7. Every time you get distracted, start over from 24 again

Were you able to count down to 0? How many times did it take you? 

Remember the good news: You are more than a conqueror through Jesus who loves you. Anything that is trying to overcome you, including distractions, cannot withstand the love of Jesus for you. And that makes you an overcomer.

You got this. 

Pa’lante en Paz, 

sg

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Designer Jerry Lorenzo celebrated the theme and Black Dandyism this way:

“Grateful to have the luxury of looking inward for direction for tonight’s celebration - without needing to reach for unfamiliar references to guide the way.”

Musician and Maestro, Jon Batiste celebrate the theme and Black Dandyism this way:

“We come from a lineage of over-comers and we’ve triumphed victoriously. That’s why we celebrate… I am forever grateful to the pioneers who paved the way, many of them without resources or a spotlight. What a profoundly beautiful continuum.”

And yet, this year’s theme and celebration came during a contemporary moment when celebrating the beauty of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is under attack.

It’s a jarring juxtaposition. On the one hand the story of Black Dandyism is inspiring us towards Black love and liberation. While on the other hand, the oppression of Black, and other marginalized bodies, are being systemically dismantled as programs and funding are being cut.

And yet, this is the way of perseverance in an age of despair.

The Way of Perseverance

Perseverance is long discipline in the same direction. This long discipline is a commitment to continue forward in a particular direction. But that direction is not about a destination. Rather, the direction is towards our greater purpose.

Our greater purpose is to become a fully integrated human - mind, body, and spirit. To persevere towards this greater purpose is to discipline ourselves in becoming a great lover.

Becoming a great lover is first and foremost about (re)claiming the truth that you are God’s beloved. Your primary identity is rooted in this reality. You were created out of love to be a person of love. In that (re)claiming, you learn to deeply love yourself and deeply love others.

Love is the long game.

Towards Your Greater Purpose

Every Black creative and designer who curated this year’s Met Gala, reminds us that even against the backdrop of despair, becoming a great lover is a purpose worth persevering towards.

One of the co-hosts of the Met Gala, Colman Domingo, told the press leading up to the event:

“God created Black people and Black people created style.”

Domingo’s words are a reminder that every person is created in the image of God. We are the imago dei. And while the cuts to DEI programs rightfully call us to despair. Despair at the inequities that are permeating every system of society. Despair at essential resources that are being eliminated. Despair at access to programs that will become more and more challenging. Nothing can separate us from our original dei - the imago dei. The image of God, the image of love that we were created out of to embrace within ourselves and to extend towards others.

So, in this age of despair, where the present may feel like we are taking more losses than wins, the Met Gala and Black Dandyism offer three affirmations for persevering in an age of despair:

1. You come from over-comers

2. Love is your true origin

3. Your original dei cannot be cut

Dime con quién andas, y te diré quién eres.

When my grandfather passed away a few years ago, one of the things I missed the most about him was the blessings he would offer when we called. 

“Bendición, Abuelo.”

“Dios te bendiga, hija.”

Simple, sacred words. One generation passing on his bendición to the next. 

I wanted to continue his legacy of bendiciones, because bendiciones are my raices.

Two months after he passed, I offered my first “Bendición.” They are a fusion of poetry, prayer, and prophetic calls to action. A way to weave the past together with the future. A way to honor the ancestral legacy of my family, while giving others new language and fresh imagination for our contemporary moment. 

Each “Bendición” includes either a dicho or corito from my Abuelita. They are proverbs and songs standing the test of time from one generation to the next. They are the wisdom sustaining us - especially through darkest times.

So, when I was asked to offer a bendición on the topic of the beloved community for UniteBoston’s Annual Fundraiser, Abuelita’s dicho was the starting place:

Dime con quién andas, y te diré quién eres.

Abuelita’s Dicho & The Beloved Community

Tell me who you walk with and I’ll tell you who you are.

As I reflect on the fusion of this dicho and the vision of Beloved Community (an idea popularized by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) for this contemporary moment, I’m struck by the ways this dicho provokes three questions within us: 

1. Who do you walk in solidarity with? 

2. Who do you walk in mutuality with? 

3. Who do you walk in interdependence with?

The ethic of Jesus is love. Radical love. Enemy love. Sacrificial love. A love that walks with the widow, the orphan, the immigrant, and the most marginalized in society. 

Our failure to walk in solidarity, mutuality, and interdependence with the marginalized and oppressed is a revelation of who we are. 

Abuelita’s Dicho & The Work of Peace-Making

This month, in The Way of Peace in Chaotic Times, I hold in my mind the distinction: peacemaking is not the same as peacekeeping. To walk with others in the way of peace-making is to walk in such a way that you are willing to both be disrupted and to disrupt. 

To be disrupted is to be open to discomfort. Far too often, we are content to distance ourselves from chaos, conflict, or concerns, in the name of “not my problem”, “not my pain”, “not my people.” 

But, peace-making cannot happen at a distance. Peace-making requires proximity. Peace-making means we are walking in pace with others, especially when it disrupts our comfort. 

Dime con quién andas, y te diré quién eres.

Walking away from chaos, conflict, or concerns, means walking away from community. Dis-order is an expression of disconnection. Humans are designed to connect. So, anytime we walk away from chaos, conflicts, or concerns, we walk away from the opportunity to experience what our souls long for - human connection. Peace-making, then, disrupts the barriers to our soul’s desire. To bring order to disorder. To bring connection out of disconnection. To bring possibilities to the impossibilities. 

What dis-order do you need to step into for the sake of human connection?

Read "The Way of Peace in Chaotic Times"

Abuelita’s Dicho & The Way Forward

After Jesus resurrects, one of his appearances is on a walk with two of his disciples. The setting of this scene is the “Emmaus Road.” A 7-mile journey away from Jerusalem towards Emmaus. These two disciples, presumably a husband and wife, are walking away from Jerusalem, trying to grapple with the chaos they experienced over the past week. Their friend, leader, and teacher was murdered as an enemy of the state. Their community was devastated by the events of the week. 

Jesus walks with them on this road. They don’t recognize him as their friend, Jesus, but he continues walking with them.

He asks them their story: “What happened this week?” In their disbelief that he doesn’t already know, they start to recount the story. It’s not until the end of their walk together that Jesus reveals himself to them. 

Tell me who you walk with and I’ll tell you who you are.

It’s undeniable that their story of the past week was centered around Jesus. And yet, he de-centers himself to hear their story. To walk and talk. To listen and learn. 

Jesus could have chosen to walk with them and made it all about him. 

Jesus could have chosen to walk with the religious leaders and the empire that sentenced him to death row. 

Jesus could have chosen to walk with his closest friends first. 

But, this revolutionary Peace-Maker chooses to walk with two immigrants who were on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and now they’re walking away from the chaos. He catches up with them on the “Emmaus Road” and asks them for their perspective and listens to their stories. Only after they shared their stories, does he shared his. Who Jesus walks with tells us who he was. 

If you want to be revolutionary Peace-Makers, Jesus offers you a way forward. 

• Walk with people (especially the ones who are walking away from external chaos, conflict, and concerns - it’s likely they’re trying to make sense of their internal chaos, conflict, and concerns.) 

• Ask people their perspective 

• Listen to people’s stories

• Share your story

Who do you need to walk with, so you can listen to their perspective and stories? 

“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” 

Audre Lorde’s words are resonating in my soul as I embark on Holy Week this year. Against the backdrop of such dis-ordered times, there are moments when I feel at a loss for how to engage the work of peace-making and justice-advocating. To be honest, in many ways working for peace and justice for families, friends, and neighbors feels both unsafe and like a useless effort. 

Then, I remember the words that God spoke to the Prophet Jeremiah during another time of oppression in exile: “Your job is to pull up and tear down, take apart and dismantle, And then start over, building and planting.”

Building the future we long for does not happen until we dismantle the present that we are facing. And we can’t dismantle using the same tools that built the “houses” (structures, institutions, etc) that have brought us to this moment. 

10 Tools from Jesus during Holy Week

1. Weep 

As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.”

On the Sunday of Holy Week, Jesus rode into the city on a donkey to shouts of “Hosanna” (“God save us”) with people waving palm leaves and he’s weeping. 

Peace-making and justice-advocating are rooted in heartbreak. And for Jesus, a brown-skinned immigrant son from a working-class town outside of the city, the heartbreak was that the people wanted him to come and overthrow the government using the tools of that same government. The tools that were used to oppress him, his family, friends, and neighbors would not bring peace or justice. 

Weeping allows us to be honest with our heartbreak. Heartbreak over strategies that no longer serve. Over systems that are broken. Over disillusionment from the very people who we work with to bring peace and justice. Weeping dismantles the master’s house.

2. Flip Tables

On the Monday of Holy Week, Jesus arrived at the temple in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. Confronted with a scene in the courtyard of corruption, Jesus found the courtyard with people stealing from the poor to make themselves rich. Then, he started flipping tables, because they turned the house of prayer into a den of robbers. 

Ayanna Pressley once quoted her hero, Shirley Chisholm saying: 

“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair. But the times call for us to take it a step further and build new tables together.”

Ayanna and Shirley were taking a tool from the way of Jesus. Sometimes the corruption that built the table needs to be flipped, and rebuilt. Flipping tables dismantles the master’s house.

3. Speak the truth in love

On the Tuesday of Holy Week, the religious leaders plotted to abduct Jesus from the streets, because they were threatened by his outspoken messages. But he evaded their attempts and once again he calls out the hypocrisy of their leadership: 

"Blind guides!...For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness...Snakes! Sons of vipers!” 

Everything that Jesus said and did was rooted in love. Radical love. Enemy love. Sacrificial love. Love is not about nice-ness. Love does not allow us to be the worst versions of ourselves and get away with it. So, when Jesus spoke to these leaders, he spoke the truth to them out of love for them. 

Hate is a tool of the master’s house. So, even when we speak the truth, if we speak in hate, we’re using the master’s tools. Speaking the truth in love dismantles the master’s house.

4. Rest

On Wednesday of Holy Week, scholars speculate that Jesus retreated and rested at his friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus’s house. 

Jesus did not rest, because there wasn’t work to be done. Jesus rested, because the work that needed to be done could not be done without rest. Peace and justice is too important for us to be exhausted. Rest dismantles the master’s house.

5. Serve

On Thursday of Holy Week, as Jesus and the disciples prepared to share the Passover meal, Jesus washes the disciples' feet. This act was an act of ultimate service and humility. Jesus was their leader, their Rabbi. If anything, they should have washed his feet. But he was so confident in his identity, calling, and purpose, that he could model a posture of service and humility that would become the model for their leadership. 

We live in a caste system. There’s hierarchy everywhere. But in Jesus a disruption to caste, to hierarchy, and to any system that would prioritize one to dehumanize any. Serving dismantles the master’s house.

6. Weep with Friends

On Thursday night of Holy Week, Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane and invites his three closest friends to stay near him while he prays. It’s in this Garden, that Jesus crying so hard that blood vessels burst and his sweat turns to blood, prays the words of the Psalm: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” 

Again, Jesus weeps. In agony, for he knows the pain of peace-making and justice-advocating. But he doesn’t weep alone. He invites his three closest friends to be with him. 

Isolation. Disconnection. These are tools that only lead to despair and loneliness. When we believe that strength looks like holding it all together, we forget that true strength is weeping with those who weep, mourning with those who mourn, and rejoicing with those who rejoice. Weeping with friends dismantles the master’s house.

7. Carry Your Cross

On Friday of Holy Week, Jesus is sentenced to the death penalty. He is forced to carry a cross through the streets after being beaten for his attempts at peace-making and justice-advocating. The religious leaders were so threatened by the ways he was dismantling their institution in the name of liberation, their only recourse was to murder him. 

Jesus puts a period on our death sentence. But that does not mean we don’t still have crosses to carry. Our burdens and the burdens of our family, friends, and neighbors cannot be ignored. Jane Goodall said it best: 

“The greatest danger to our future is apathy.” 

Jesus was positioned in a time and place and with a particular people and him carrying his cross in that context changed history. May the same be true for us in our contexts. Carrying your cross dismantles the master’s house.

8. Forgive

On Friday evening of Holy Week, Jesus hung on the cross and offered his seven final phrases. The first phrase was:

“Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”

Recently, I was with friends reflecting on these words and someone named a tension I also experience with this phrase. They said: “Everything they were doing seemed pre-meditated. So, they did know what they were doing.” And then someone offered this insight: “How often do we think we know what we are doing, when we look back, we realize we did not know the full extent of what we were doing. And what if, even in their pre-meditation of murdering Jesus, they didn’t know the full extent?” 

I’m still in tension with this phrase, but what I have learned is that forgiveness is more about liberating me from resentment and bitterness that gets in the way of working towards peace and justice. Forgiveness dismantles the master’s house.

9. Know When to Speak and When to Work

On Saturday of Holy Week, Jesus is silent and unseen. And to all the people who watched him exhale for the last time and placed him in the tomb, he was dead. He failed his mission. His friends dispersed from him. The game was over. Except, on this side of the timeline, it wasn’t over. He was silent, but at work. 

Jesus understood the power of silent protesting. Sometimes our silence and absence speaks louder towards dismantling the systems and structures that are designed to destroy us than our speaking. 

Not everyone needs to hear you all of the time. Not everything needs to be posted on social media. Not every person needs your presence. Understanding these boundaries, gives you space to get to work on peace-making and justice-advocacy, even in the silent and unseen spaces. Knowing when to speak and when to work dismantles the master’s house.

10. Remember Your “Who” 

On Sunday of Holy Week, Jesus appears to his family, chosen family, and his friends. He appears to the women who stayed loyal to him when everyone left. He appears to his friend who denied knowing him not once but three times. He appears to his friend who was so wounded by the situation that he isolated himself from the community. He appears not with judgment, but with compassion for each person. And he appears to share time, conversations, and meals with them. 

If I was Jesus and just conquered death, I would choose to appear to the people who thought they got away with murdering me. “I’m back suckers. You thought you could kill me. I’m God.”

Jesus remembers his “who”. Who are the people who you’ve been with and have been with you? Who are the people you’re peace-making and justice-advocating for and with? Because when you emerge from the silent and unseen spaces (that we all need from time to time), those are the people who you can go to without judgment and with compassion. Remembering your “who” dismantles the master’s house.

Qs for Reflection:

1. Which tool(s) resonates most with you in this season of peace-making and justice-advocating?

2. Which tool(s) do you struggle with activating?

3. What might be your next most faithful step towards dismantling and rebuilding?