Boxes of Trophies: When Success Becomes Your Identity

Faith in Free Fall

We all start with a system. A way to understand the world—life, death, right and wrong, what happens next. Some of it we choose. A lot of it is handed to us. And for a while… it works. Until it doesn’t. In this episode, I use the game Kerplunk as a metaphor for belief—how it’s built, how it holds together, and what happens when life starts pulling the sticks out. At first, it’s small. A question. An experience that doesn’t fit. You file it away. But over time, those moments stack… until eventually, everything starts to fall apart. And then you’re left asking: Did I break it? Was it ever true? Do I still belong here? But even in the collapse, there’s something underneath it all that still feels real. So what if the goal isn’t to rebuild the system… but to step outside of the game entirely? This episode is about faith, doubt, and what might be waiting on the other side of certainty.

Tapes — God Isn’t Watching Your Tape

We all have tapes. Moments that replay on demand—failures, regrets, the things we wish we could undo. Over time, those memories stop feeling like the past… and start sounding like the truth. “You failed.” “You missed it.” “That’s who you are.” And somewhere along the way, we start to believe God hears the same tape we do—watching, rewinding, keeping score. But what if that’s not who God is at all? In this episode, we unpack the voices we carry, how they shape our identity, and why the God of the Gospels doesn’t choose the best of the best—but the ones who thought they didn’t make the cut. What if God isn’t replaying your failures? What if He’s calling you forward instead? Listen to Episode 8 — Tapes

The Scoreboard Is Gone: A Deep Dive into Philippians 3

Last week I released a short film on Philippians 3 about trophies, identity, and how we build our lives around achievement. But there was more there. So this is a deeper dive. In this episode, we “turn the jewel” on Philippians 3—looking at it through multiple lenses: theological, historical, existential, psychological, and deeply personal. Paul lays out a perfect résumé… and then calls it garbage. Not because those things were bad, but because they couldn’t answer the deeper question: Am I acceptable? We explore: * Why we build identity around achievement, morality, and certainty * The ancient debate of “who’s in and who’s out”—and why it still matters * How Paul dismantles the entire system of performance-based belonging * The collapse of the false self—and what it opens up This one is a little more raw. Less polished. More like thinking out loud. It’s also a bit of “wet cement”—something I’m still working through in real time. If you’ve ever felt like you’re trying to prove yourself… this conversation is for you.

Boxes of Trophies: When Success Becomes Your Identity

Somewhere in the attic there are boxes of trophies. Plaques. Certificates. Little monuments to moments when you were winning. As kids, the trophies sit on shelves in our bedrooms. As adults, the trophies change shape. Titles. Promotions. Resumes. LinkedIn profiles. Two thousand years ago, the apostle Paul listed his own credentials—his pedigree, his achievements, his religious résumé—and then said something shocking: “Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss.” In this episode, I reflect on a moment in my own career when the trophies I had spent years chasing suddenly lost their meaning. A drive through the mountains of Colorado became an unexpected encounter with God that forced me to reconsider where my identity and worth really came from. Because the question isn’t whether we have trophies. The question is whether they’re quietly becoming the thing that defines us.

The Weight of Secrets

Some things we hide in plain sight. A bottle pushed behind other bottles in the cabinet. A prescription tucked into the back of a drawer. Food wrappers buried at the bottom of the trash. Most of us have something we don’t want anyone to see. Not because we’re evil. But because we’re afraid of what it might mean if someone really knew. There’s an old saying: you’re only as dark as your secret. In this episode, we explore the quiet power of hidden things—why shame drives us to conceal parts of our lives, why secrets grow heavier the longer we carry them, and why bringing things into the light can be both terrifying and freeing. Because sometimes the thing that keeps us trapped isn’t the failure itself. It’s the hiding.