How I Ended Up in Oz

Welcome to my journey.

And what an adventure it’s been lately. Since the onset of 2026 I feel like I’ve been riding a whirlwind. And all along, hoping to wake up in Oz or something even better, heaven. At the same time, Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore. Nothing is the same. I had no clue when I made the plan to journal my way through the book of Hebrews that I would get hurled into a new reality. 

I’ve gone from black and white to color in the time it took for Dorothy to conk her head in Kansas and wake up in Oz. Oh, don’t get me wrong. It’s been wonderful. It’s been colorful. It’s been a new and unexpected scene at every turn. I may have had a few apple trees throw their fruit at me, but I put them in my basket and skipped on my merry way. Why the Wizard of Oz analogy? Because this my friend has been surreal. 

I’ve had life overturned a few times over the years. Times I found myself amidst a strong learning curve. This has been one of them. With all the earmarks of open heaven encounter without the whizzbangs to go with it. I like whizzbangs as much as the next guy. Okay, I’m not sure the uber religious would appreciate my referring to angels showing up as the whizzbangs. But it’s kinda whizzbang. I mean who doesn’t like a good fireworks display, right? 

Whizzbangs not withstanding this has been a thrilling mix of sudden highs, unexpected drops, and unpredictable, fast-paced changes. It was hard to keep up at times. I wanted to take a step back and let it all sink in. But you can’t get off a roller coaster mid ride. So, I grabbed the rail and let the ride take me where it wanted to go. Yes, that’s my way of saying Holy Spirit set the pace. 

Looking back now, I’ve been asking myself what the heck just happened? The changes have affected more than just everything I’m writing. It’s altered me. I want to say it’s been drastic but I’m not sure that’s the right word. Let me explain. 

I know what I believe when it comes to God. I know what I believe relating to the finished work of Christ. And I know what I believe about Holy Spirit. The best way to describe this might be to say at some point what I believe lit a fuse. Two things were happening at the same time. Both at the leading of Holy Spirit. One was a leading to learn how to use AI. Not to use it to replace my writing. But to help me with how I was coming across. The other was to journal my way through the book of Hebrews. 

When I say journal that means something specific to me. And that was the specific wording of Holy Spirit. And that translates to God wants this to go deep. It’s not just study. I do that all the time. It’s my preferred approach. I like good exegesis. I lean into the critical, objective extraction of a text’s original meaning. I love drawing out what the author intended to convey in their historical and cultural context, rather than reading modern biases into the text. My journaling would have that element but wouldn’t end there. It becomes more interactive. It means synergistically engaging with the text, with the author, the audience, Holy Spirit and with my own random thoughts. It’s time consuming. For me to do that I need more than a few minutes each morning. I need hours of uninterrupted flow. So, every Saturday morning I buried myself in Hebrews. 

As I said, I was also attempting to learn AI. And the first thing I learned was that, in order for it to be a truly effective tool, you have to teach it. So, I decided to use AI alongside my journaling. And that is when the wind started blowing and eventually lifted my house into the sky. It really took off when I got to Hebrews 5:5-6

So too Christ did not glorify Himself in becoming a high priest, but it was He who said to Him, “You are My Son, Today I have fathered You”; just as He also says in another passage, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

I’ve studied Melchizedek before. I’ve studied Hebrews before. Multiple times in fact. Hebrews is one of my favorite books. I go through it about once a year. So, this passage didn’t throw me as much as it opened a discussion with AI that launched me into orbit. 

What came up in the discussion around Melchizedek and what was written in the Dead Sea Scrolls changed my trajectory. Not because I was fascinated with Melchizedek but because I realized that many today do what some of the Jews of that day were doing. They were waiting for something that had already happened. They saw Melchizedek as a type of redeemer, one who would fulfill all their hopes. That hope was anchored in Isaiah 61.

Knowing that Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah 61, He says so when He stands in the synagogue in Galilee and declares it, something triggered in me. Maybe it doesn’t mean as much to anybody else. But it did to me. It not only changed the trajectory of my Hebrews study. It changed the trajectory of everything else. Suddenly the finished work of Christ was before me in a way it never has before. 

For days afterward I kept getting bugged by Holy Spirit. Persistently, He pressed until I realized where He was going with this. When I finally got there I realized everything has to come from the finished work. Not just what we know about God. Not just what we believe about Jesus. But how we live. The day to day. The ongoing. 

I think most of us already know that the finished work of Christ is the foundation that our Christian life is established on. We know that, right? But somehow this was going further. 

That was when Holy Spirit began leading me to write about the finished work. I needed to state not only what it is, but what it looks like when the finished work becomes how we live. Hence, the Foundation Before Platform series was birthed. And my life hasn’t been the same. 

I’m not someone who can write something, put it out there and then not feel responsible to live up to it. All I kept thinking was how this was going to change everything. It repositions our obedience, our stewardship, our faithfulness, our integrity, our courage, and even our humility. Can I tell you, I have been radically impacted by what Holy Spirit escorted me through. I don’t know if I will ever feel qualified to facilitate another home group. 

“The Ekklesia Assembly does not build the kingdom. It receives it… The Ekklesia Assembly is not the architect of the kingdom. It is the caretaker of what Christ has established. This changes the posture of leadership. It changes the tone of influence. It changes the way we measure fruit. Because maturity is not proven by endurance alone. It is revealed in how we carry what has been placed in our hands.”

That last line kind of stuck in my throat. I had to look at what had been placed in my hands. And that is people. Each and every one of you. And the more I pondered on this, the greater the responsibility felt. I went back to look at what I had written. 

When I revisited old posts, I copied one and ran it through the new criteria I had established using AI for making sure what I write adheres to a pastoral voice and tone, and is worded so that it doesn’t contradict living from the finished work. And as you can imagine there were things that didn’t fit the bill. My first reaction was to hit the delete key until my finger wore out. I didn’t. I wanted to. But then Holy Spirit reminded me, life is a journey. I get to be where I was. And just because I’ve shifted my focus doesn’t remove the value of what came before. It’s all a part of my journey.

If you have been following me for a while you are not unfamiliar with the shift in focus. But what’s greater than the focus is the reason behind it. You can go your whole life without understanding prophetic symbolism. 

It’s fun. 

It can be fascinating. 

But it doesn’t really help when it comes to facing the challenges of life. 

The finished work of Christ does. 

There are those close to me who do not understand the shift I’ve made. It isn’t the change of tone that they don’t like. It’s the sense of accountability that arises when I talk about the shared responsibility of the Ekklesia Assembly. It’s my subtle lack of tolerance for theatrics masquerading as spiritual discernment. 

So, yes, I’ve changed. I haven’t rejected the spiritual gifting entrusted to me. But I will not use that as a platform to promote myself. Because it isn’t one. Whatever Holy Spirit gifts I’ve been given are just that; they are gifts. I am a grateful recipient. I do not own them. They are entrusted to me to do the job I’ve been assigned by God. Sometimes, our jobs change. Sometimes the tools you use for a job change

But one thing remains the same. 

There are different spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, and yet the same Lord is served. There are different 12:4–7 (GWT)

At the end of the day, my desire is that you see Jesus, you hear the voice of Holy Spirit and experience the Father’s love. You can go your whole life and never know Betty. I don’t want you to remember me. I want you to know Him. 

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

Maybe you’ve been on your own version of this ride. Maybe Holy Spirit has been pressing on something in you too. I don’t write to guide along a road I’ve never walked. I write from the path I’m on. And I’m glad you’re on it with me.

And that is where I am. Not arrived. Not finished. But settled in a way I haven’t been before. The whirlwind came and went. The house landed somewhere new. And I find I don’t want to go back to Kansas. Not because Kansas was wrong. But because Oz turned out to be real. And it turns out real is better than familiar.

So welcome to Along the Way.

This is where I’ll keep walking it out.

And you’re welcome to walk with me.