Raising a medically-complex child teaches you that the system wasn't built for your family. And it opens your eyes to how many other people have systems and structures that work against them in today's world.

Empathy doesn't mean you automatically agree with someone. It means you're willing to understand what it's like to be them and put yourself in their shoes for a moment.

Faith isn't about certainty. It's about saying yes to Jesus in the middle of your doubt and fear.

I believe that good leadership is about developing people rather than pursuing power.

When you're tempted to write someone off, remember: empathy is a choice. And choosing it, over and over, is how we become the people we're meant to be.

"There is always more grace available than the sin weighing us down." — Tim Keller

“The refusal to act in the midst of injustice is itself an act of injustice. Indifference to oppression perpetuates oppression.” - Jemar Tisby, The Color of Compromise

The world doesn't need another person with answers. I think it needs people brave enough to say "I don't understand what you're going through, but I'm here." That's where empathy starts.

Just saw someone describe advocacy as this...and I don't know if I'll ever look at it the same way. Visibility shapes empathy. And empathy shapes policy. This is why my wife and I share about Payton's story and why we care so deeply about advocating for these kids who are formed so uniquely.

Empathy is not just understanding someone's pain - it's being willing to be changed by it. - Brené Brown

Grace isn't the absence of consequences. It's being loved while you're still growing.

Following Jesus isn't about becoming someone different. It's about becoming more yourself...the self you were made to be. And letting Jesus be the one to refine you and shape you in that process.

I firmly believe that kindness is contagious. It spreads quietly. A kind word to a stranger becomes their kindness to someone else. You're never just helping one person.

We're getting a Traeger later on this week. Hit me with your best recipes.

"You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." — Martin Luther King Jr.

"Come, follow me," Jesus said. Not "figure it out first." Not "get your act together." Just come. There's something deeply freeing about a faith that doesn't require you to have arrived before you start the journey.

The test of leadership isn't how many people believe in you or you have under you on an org chart. It's whether the people around you become more alive, more hopeful, more capable. Do you leave people better than you found them?

In reading Matthew 25 again recently, I'm learning that social justice isn't about being angry at the right people. It's about being faithful to the people Jesus told us to care for: the poor, the imprisoned, the stranger, the outcast. I struggle with the not getting angry part though.

It's crazy to look back over two years ago and how I prayed for my boys to be instilled with the values of kindness, compassion, and empathy as they grew up. So, God gave them their sister. 🩷

I respect your opinion as long as it doesn’t disrespect someone else’s existence.

To every Mom out there, Happy Mother's Day! I hope you all feel cherished and appreciated today, and every day. And to those out there who struggle with what this day brings...whether that's due to longing, grief, or separation, you're on my mind, too. You're in my prayers.

“Leadership is not about being in charge. It’s about taking care of those in your charge.” — Simon Sinek

"I think the receipt for love is grief." - Scott Galloway Wow.

"Listening is where love begins: listening to ourselves and then to our neighbors." — Fred Rogers

"When children are loved for who they are, it can help them grow into adults who see differences not as divisions, but as something to celebrate." — Fred Rogers

Just have to say this...Empathy isn't weakness. It's the ability to understand another person's pain without fixing it, without minimizing it, without making it about you. And I think that's actually one of the strongest things a human can do.

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." — Martin Luther King Jr.

Jesus saying "take up your cross and follow me" doesn't mean your life will be easy. It means your life will be purposeful.

A leader who can admit they were wrong is stronger than a leader who was never wrong. Growth only happens when we're willing to be wrong publicly and learn privately.

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." — Maya Angelou

I believe that you don't lead people well by proving how smart you are. You lead them by proving you care about where they're going. Everything else follows that.

Kids are mirrors. Watch how they treat someone who's different, struggling, or left out. That's who they've learned to be from the people around them. Be worth mirroring.

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." — Mother Teresa

As I've gotten older, I've learned that compassion isn't passive. It's actually one of the more exhausting things you can choose to practice consistently. But it changes you. And it changes the people around you.

There's a difference between believing about Jesus and believing in Jesus. One is intellectual. The other is relational. It changes how you see everyone, especially the ones society has written off and pushed to the margins.

The best thing a leader can do is make the people around them feel capable of more than they thought possible. Not by pushing harder..but by believing in them first.

You never know when a single act of kindness is the thing that keeps someone going. It doesn't have to be a big gesture, just a small one. It can make all the difference in the world.

Good leaders aren't the smartest people in the room. They're the ones who find people smarter than themselves and make room for them. The ones who have confidence secure enough to lift others higher.

Empathy used to be called a virtue. Now some people treat it like a liability. But kindness doesn't make you weaker. It makes you more human.

"Empathy is simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of 'You're not alone.'" — Brené Brown

"The true measure of a man is not how he behaves in moments of comfort and convenience but how he stands at times of controversy and challenges." — MLK Jr.

The best leaders I've seen don't have all the answers. They create environments where the right questions can actually be asked.

Robert Kiyosaki said it simply: "A good leader is always looking for people smarter than themselves." The leaders who feel threatened by talented people around them - that's a reason to proceed with caution.

Kindness isn't weakness. In a world that rewards being loud and using other people to get ahead, choosing to be genuinely kind to people takes more courage than most people realize.

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed...

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear." — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." If your faith requires a particular political party to succeed, you might be following the wrong kingdom.

"Compassion is not weakness. It requires tremendous courage to be compassionate." — Bryan Stevenson

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." — Martin Luther King Jr.