I've noticed a couple different aspects of when we pray together. About the unique power in the fact that I go to God with brothers at my side.
I know the mistakes of a parent can have incredibly long-lasting ramifications on a child's life. I still struggle to this day due to things my parents did.
It is difficult to be present with people you know will grow uninterested in you. It is difficult to develop friendships knowing your value is temporary.
These words served as a reminder that my story is worth telling and sharing. And equally as important, truth needs to be spoken.
Sometimes it’s as if "coming out" and getting rid of the wall between my same-sex attractions and the rest of me will somehow make my sexuality more real.
As I reflect on this new friendship, I begin to overanalyze. Have I replaced one best friend with another?
And then my wife came up the stairs and saw me in my deplorable state. I was attempting to fix the bathtub plumbing. And losing.
"How could you take a bath?" The question seemed ludicrous to me. I walked a lot that day. I was tired. My legs were sore. The bath was hot. This guy is a genuinely nice guy who loves God. But he's bought into a delusional sense of masculinity based more on actions than identity.
If I strictly fly the flag of my sexuality, I view the world solely through my attractions. I see everything in life as related to homosexuality.
"Straight-baiting" has always fascinated me: the act of tricking a heterosexual individual to engage in homosexual activities.