Who I Am

WHEN FAMILY CALLED, I CAME

I have spent much of my life being the person who stays. I raised my sons largely on my own. I have cared for people I love as age or illness changed what they could carry. When my family needed me, I came.

That choice has shaped my life as surely as any job, book, or calling. Caring for others has sometimes changed my plans and slowed the work I hoped to finish. I don't see those years as time taken from my purpose. They are part of it.

I've learned that God often uses us quietly. Sometimes the work is writing a book. At other times, it means filling pill containers or sitting beside a hospital bed. It can look like preparing the church for a funeral, or listening until another person no longer feels alone.

MY FAITH AND MY TRUTH BELONG TOGETHER

I was raised in the church and gave my life to God at sixteen. Faith has remained the ground beneath me, even when religious voices made me question whether every part of me could belong.

For years, I tried to reconcile being gay and intuitive with the Christianity that had shaped me. In time, I realized the conflict wasn't between God and me. It was between what I knew of His presence and what other people insisted He must think of me.

God never asked me to disappear. He kept calling me closer.

Today, I listen for Him in Scripture and prayer, within the quiet of my own spirit, and in the people I meet. When something in another person's words or silence draws my attention, I take it as an invitation to be present and see whether I have something to give.

THE LOVE THAT STILL SHAPES ME

Mike and I shared a life made up of the things most couples know: laughter only we understood, familiar routines, plans for the future, disagreements, and the comfort of knowing someone had chosen to stay.

For too long, I spoke about those years carefully. I had learned how quickly some people stopped seeing love once they knew it was shared by two men. I will not do that to our life anymore.

Mike died in 2004. His death ended the life we were living together, but it did not erase the love or what it gave me. He changed how I understand companionship and grief. Losing him changed how I value the time we are given.

Mike is part of who I am. I loved him then. I love him still.

WRITING IS HOW I ANSWER

I didn't become a writer because I was looking for a profession. I became one because certain words, questions, and stories wouldn't leave me alone. They kept returning until I sat down and listened.

That is why I call myself a scribe. My best work doesn't begin with deciding what I want to say. It begins with paying attention to what I may be receiving, testing it through prayer, and giving it the time it needs on the page.

Much of my writing grows from conversations with God. Family, caregiving, grief, and the moments when one life brushes against another also find their way into my work. Fiction sometimes lets me approach a truth that direct explanation cannot reach.

I don't claim that every word I write comes from God. I believe writing is one way I answer Him. My responsibility is to listen honestly and handle what comes with care.

LIVING IN J-O-Y

J-O-Y means Jesus, Others, and You. It is the order I return to when life becomes noisy, and I begin losing my way.

I begin with Jesus because I need direction that doesn't come from fear or the need to prove myself. Then I look at the person in front of me. What may God be asking me to notice? Is there something I can offer, or do I need to listen?

The final word is You. I used to think service meant putting myself last until nothing remained. I know better now. The life God gave me also needs care.

I don't live J-O-Y perfectly. I return to it. It brings me back to Jesus and helps me serve without disappearing.

STILL BECOMING

I don't speak about my life as though its most meaningful chapters are behind me. There are people I still need to care for and words I still need to write. I also know God isn't finished asking me to build.

Some parts of my life are settled. Other parts are changing even as I write this. I don't need to know how every chapter ends before I enter it. I only need to keep listening and answer when the next step becomes clear.

This site will grow as I do. If you want to understand the road that brought me here, begin with My Story. If you want to see the work I have done along the way, visit my Professional Background.

READ MY STORY

VIEW MY PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND