Amongst all the Minions and the flashy action scenes, Despicable Me 4 offers a touching reflection on what it means to be a parent. We raise children to make good choices, and then we have no control over what they do with that moral formation. That is also a good way to think about salvation and God’s unstoppable love for us - no matter the decisions that we make.

Could we experience Holy Spirit moments, when human connections are made where we feel deep transformation occurring? How do we get to those deep Holy Spirit moments?

The “priesthood of all believers” is aspirational, but it rarely happens in practice.

It hurts me to know this text that I weekly thank God for has been misused and continues to be misused to cause pain and trauma in people. In a sad irony, the Bible was written by the outcast and the marginalized and is misused to create outcasts and to marginalize.

While my time as youth minister is over, maybe I’m not done ministering to youth after all. Because they are certainly not done ministering to me.