I know this may come as a shock to some of you...
but I am a Christian. I will let this marinate for a little while. This means that I am a Jesus-lover, Jesus-freak, bible-thumping idiot, and all of the other names that God-haters come up with to make themselves feel better about MY decision. I grew up in a traditional Pentecostal family/church with very traditionally-religious ideals and practices. As such, I have spent the last decade or so trying to UN-learn all of the crap that I internalized from that environment. I am now a member of a church that identifies as Pentecostal without all of the excess garbage. It is multi-cultural, multi-racial and anti-religious. My pastor is from Louisiana and identifies as, well, everything!

I say all of this as a reminder because, due to my recent struggles, I have allowed my walk with God to suffer. That's my fault; not His. I would hate for the impression that I put out there to be that I blame God for my problems (as most people do). Trust me, I don't. This journal steered more towards the political/racial when I re-opened it and I have been leaving a very big part of my life out of it (I haven't figured out if it is intentional or not). This will not be the case from this moment forward and I am giving you fair warning so you may jump ship if you so desire.

I am far from perfect. I have allowed some very, very bad habits that I once stopped to resurface. It is the tendency for others, when faced with a non-perfect Christian (notice how it's only ever Christianity), to call them a hypocrite. I have previously stated how I feel about that. Everyone is free to express their opinions here. A little debate is healthy. What I will NOT do is allow someone whose sole purpose is to 'stick it to those stupid Christians' to come on here and tell me how much I'm failing at a life that they know nothing about. FIND.SOMETHING.ELSE.TO.DO!! People have questions. If I know the answer, I'll give it. I don't even PRETEND to know all of the answers myself. That doesn't make me less intelligent than someone who choses not to believe. Let's face it, most of the time, the people who engage in this activity don't really want answers, they just want to feel superior. Please do so elsewhere. Or, you know, kill yourself immediately.

You have been warned.