Fellow believer, here’s how we must deal with shame

I used to work at a grocery store meat department when I was in college, and one day, I started chatting with a young woman and her little girl. Her daughter had a rotten tooth and — I don’t know what I was thinking — I smiled and said: “Looks like somebody needs to brush her teeth!” The mom glared at me and said: “Looks like somebody needs to learn their manners.” A few days later, I saw the lady and her daughter at the grocery store and I apologized. Both the woman and her daughter were gracious and forgave…

Check out these podcasts featuring interviews with Raquel and me

August 30, 2020September 20, 2020 Categories: UncategorizedTags: marriage · prayer · shame · vulnerability

If you have enjoyed reading what Raquel and I have written, here’s a chance to hear us share our thoughts and interviews. Enjoy! [And I also need to apologize: Something happened to the original post that was linked here (“My appearance on a morning show horrified my wife”) and I can’t get it back. It has been so frustrating! But you should definitely check our our podcast interviews below.]

Have enough self-respect to ask others to give it

April 5, 2019April 8, 2019 Categories: Loving Your NeighborTags: conflict · criticism · fear · shame

This is a story about a law student, a partner at a firm, and gross towel usage. Brace yourself. Here we go. There’s a lot of pressure that comes with being a law student who’s hired to work as a “summer associate” at a law firm. You try to do everything you can to impress the partners. After all, those partners are the ones paying you wads of cash to come audition for them.

I told a huge lie — and I’ll never forget how God handled it

February 17, 2019 Categories: Growing PainsTags: forgiveness · grace · shame · sin

When I was 18, I told the most elaborate lie of my life and I did it because I was lazy. I worked at the meat department of a grocery store where the assistant manager, Harold Johnson (a pseudonym), was known for recruiting meat department employees to stock shelves. That wasn’t my job and I was determined to avoid it.

Clawing Away at our Brokenness

July 19, 2015September 16, 2017 Categories: Trusting GodTags: grace · guilt · healing · shame1 Comment

When I was a teenager, I was grateful that I had few zits on my face. I hated, however, the fact that I had them all over my back. It was a social hazard to go swimming or change my shirt around other teens. I couldn’t bear the thought of my peers seeing my acne-covered back and being grossed out by me. So I did the only thing I knew to effectively get rid of it: I baked my fair skin in the sun until it burned.

Joshua Rogers

Finding God in the Ordinary

Tag: shame