Faith Through The Fire

My Dad Just Went to Prison Again. Here's How I Still Honor Him

My dad just went to prison again a few weeks ago. And I still honor him. Here's why — and why it's the heaviest thing you'll ever do in the kingdom. Buddy opens Romans 12 today and flips the way you understand honor completely. Most people read "honor one another above yourselves" as a nice sentiment — a call to be polite, to get along, to treat people well when they deserve it. Buddy breaks down why that reading misses the entire weight of what Paul is saying. Honor isn't agreement. It's not enabling. It's not pretending someone is mature when they're not. It's recognizing that every single person — including the ones who have done you the dirtiest — is made perfect in the image of God. And when you dishonor them, you make light of what God placed inside them. You don't just dismiss them. You dismiss the image of God in them. That's the kingdom perspective that freed Buddy to walk in purpose. Not therapy. Not time. Not distance. The understanding that honoring his mom and dad — even when they were still falling, still doing wrong, his dad still going back to prison — was the only reason he was able to steward the community standing in front of him right now. Romans 12:1–2 isn't just about personal transformation. It's the foundation: offer your body as a living sacrifice, renew your mind, and only then can you test and approve what God's will actually is. You want purpose? It's already in that verse. But you can't access it from a posture of judgment. The heaviest thing in the kingdom isn't your unforgiveness. It isn't your bitterness. It isn't your need to be right. It's honor — because honor carries the substance of who God is. "Honor one another above yourselves." — Romans 12:10 🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell — new devotional every weekday morning. 📖 Co-ed Bible study — DM "Bible study" for the link. VousCon Miami is live this week. Stay tuned.

God Doesn't See You As Less Chosen Than the Famous Christians

You've been told "many are called, few are chosen" — and quietly wondered if you're one of the few. You're not reading that right.Buddy opens 1 Corinthians 12 today and goes directly at the lie that some believers are more chosen, more gifted, more important to God than others. It's a lie that keeps men on the sidelines of their own purpose — watching people like Buddy, or the most famous Christians they can name, and assuming God uses them differently than He'd use someone like you.He doesn't. The blood paid the same price for every single one of us. God saw the purpose He put inside of you before the foundations of the world were ever laid — 2 Timothy 1:9. That purpose was not assigned based on how you feel, what you've done, or how your life looks right now. The sea is powerful, unpredictable, and shifting. The truth of who God says you are doesn't move.1 Corinthians 12 is about the body — and every part matters. When one part is sick, the whole body is sick. When one part is sidelined, something in the body doesn't work right. That part is you. The body needs you functioning, not watching from the outside wondering if you made the cut. You made the cut. The blood settled it."For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body — whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." — 1 Corinthians 12:13 🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell — new devotional every weekday morning. 📖 Co-ed Bible study tonight 8PM EST — DM "Bible study" to get the link. In-person at BOXR Miami. VousCon this week — over 100 people. Come through.

The Reason You Keep Pulling Away Isn't Willpower. It's What You Believe About Yourself.

You keep trying to do this alone. But God didn't design you to make it that way. Most men pull away when things get hard. They isolate. They think they can white-knuckle their way through the spiritual life without anyone watching, without anyone knowing where they really are. Buddy opens Hebrews 10 today and shows why that's not just a bad strategy — it's a misunderstanding of what the blood of Jesus actually did. The command to "not give up meeting together" in Hebrews 10:25 isn't just a church attendance verse. Buddy goes back to verse 19 and shows you the context that most people skip: we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus — not by our works, not by how clean we feel, not by how long we've been walking with God. And until that is settled in your heart — not just your head — the isolation wins. Because the devil's first attack is always on your identity. Whether you actually believe you've been forgiven. Whether you actually believe God still sees you as clean. Community isn't an add-on. It's where that truth gets reinforced — and where the lies get dismantled. Buddy also shares a personal confession: he does five days a week of ministry not because everyone else needs it. Because he needs it too. "Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together…" — Hebrews 10:24–25 🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell — new devotional every weekday morning. 📖 Bible study this week — DM "Bible study" to join. Co-ed Tuesday. In-person Miami at BOXR. Ocean baptisms Saturday.

Satan's Weapon Isn't Temptation. It's Accusation. | Fire Reads

Satan knows your name. But he calls you by your filth. And Jesus has been answering that accusation since before the cross. Most men think the enemy's greatest weapon is temptation. Buddy opens Zechariah 3 today and reveals something older and heavier — the adversary's real strategy is accusation. He's not just trying to get you to sin. He's standing in the courtroom pointing at everything you've done, trying to disqualify you from what God said He'd do in your life. But here's what this vision shows: Jesus doesn't argue with him. He doesn't debate the evidence. He just rebukes — and then He removes the filthy garments and puts on fine ones. That's not a metaphor. That's the gospel, playing out 500 years before the cross. Joshua the high priest stood before the Angel of the Lord in filthy clothes — clothes that represented every broken thing about him. Satan was right there with the case file. And yet the verdict wasn't what the accuser expected. Because accusation never wins in a courtroom where the Judge has already chosen you. Buddy breaks down what "rebuke" actually means in Zechariah 3 — not screaming at the devil, not fighting harder — and why coming into agreement with the accuser is the only real power he has left. You can't give authority back to someone Jesus already stripped it from. Unless you choose to. This is the gospel before the gospel. You've been missing this in the Bible the whole time. "I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you." — Zechariah 3:4 🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss the rest of the Christophany series. 📖 Free weekly Bible study — DM "Bible study" to join. Saturday 7PM EST via Zoom. Men's in-person Miami every Wednesday 8PM at BOXR.

God Isn't Angry At You. He's Angry At What Sin Does To You.

Most people carry a version of God in their head that is quietly angry at them.. Not angry at the world in general. Specifically at them. At their sin cycles. Their repeated failures. The prayers they stopped praying because they felt too dirty to finish them. The assumption underneath everything that God's patience with them personally is running thin. Zechariah 1 reveals something that completely dismantles that. The prophet Zechariah has a vision — and in it, the Angel of the Lord, Malak Yahweh, is standing among the myrtle trees. Not on a throne. Not with a drawn sword. In a quiet, hidden place. And His first act is to turn to the Father and ask — how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem? That's Jesus. Before the cross. Before Bethlehem. Already interceding. God's people had been in exile for 70 years because of generations of rebellion, idolatry, and covenant unfaithfulness. God had every right to be angry. And He was. But Jesus stood between that anger and His people and said — how long? Here's the revelation that changes how you see every hard season you've ever been in — God was not angry at the people. He was angry at sin and what it does to people He loves. His heart grieved. His jealousy wasn't possessive jealousy — it was covenant jealousy. He was watching His people settle for the very thing that was destroying them and He couldn't look away. That's the same God who sees you right now. And Buddy lands one more confrontational truth from this passage — your entire faith journey might just be focused on what you can get from God. The next blessing. The next breakthrough. But God isn't a vending machine you bring your problems to. He's a Father watching you settle for what's destroying you — grieving it, interceding through it, and waiting for you to stop. This is the Christophany series — You've Been Missing This In The Bible The Whole Time. "Then the angel of the Lord said, 'Lord Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem?'" — Zechariah 1:12 🔥 New devotional every week — subscribe and hit the bell. 📖 Men's tonight 8PM EST | Coed Saturday 5PM + 7PM — DM "Bible study" to join