(#11 in a series of people who
changed the course of my life)

Every Sunday, we join hands in unity, in love, in hope.

Channeling our mother-father’s God’s great compassionate love, you healed me.

Modeling grace and forgiveness, you showed me how to forgive—first myself and then others.

Walking the second mile, extending a cup of cold water, loving the least, the marginalized, the lost, I saw from you works borne of a sincere faith and in the process, reclaimed my own.

Living proudly your God-ness, bravely and unabashedly out in the open, I learned to proud of who I am, how to embrace the God in me, how to be brave.

Standing for justice, in the gap for those the world tries to stamp out, run down, silence, you showed me the urgency of reclaiming the message of love as something that lifts up, walks with, and gives voice to those who otherwise would have little hope.

Loving the world with authenticity and a contagious zeal, I discovered how to love myself and to go unto the world myself with passion and charity.

Including all people, radically, regardless of who they are or love or what they have done, I found myself welcomed and gained a deep compassion for people the world overlooks.

Abounding in grace, fervent in prayer, rejoicing always through music and laughter, my cup simply runs over.

For everything you have been, for all that you have given to me, and for all that you are going to do—I praise our God for a place called Hope.

Dallas Pride Parade, 2012–my first time to march in the parade and with my church family, a day I will never forget

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13. & 12. prophet and encourager