June 16 - A Wide Open Heart

Some of us walked in with our minds slammed shut, locked, bolted from the inside. Pastor Mike opens up about the angry atheist he used to be — and the one question from a coworker that cracked the door. In this solo episode, Mike traces how openness changed everything: the church that made the news for opening its doors to its Muslim neighbors, the place where an angry, locked-up atheist found his way in off the street, and the new appointment this July that shares a parking lot with a Jewish synagogue — and why his first goal is to go find the rabbi. He walks through the Wesleyan understanding of grace — prevenient, justifying, sanctifying — and how God's grace went before him, working through a coworker's question, long before he ever believed. The key guardrail: open-minded doesn't mean your brain falls out. Openness isn't abandoning truth — it's leaving room to learn and grow. As Bill Sees It calls the realm of the spirit broad and roomy, never exclusive. Romans 15:7 lands it — accept one another, just as Christ accepted you. And Christ accepted Mike when he was still arguing with everybody. The acceptance came first. The most closed-off version of me was also the loneliest. The more open my heart, the more connected I've become. Growth requires openness. When I remain open, new understanding becomes possible. Christian recovery | 12-step faith | sobriety devotional | open-mindedness | atheist to faith | prevenient grace | Methodist recovery | addiction recovery | AA and faith | sober living | daily reflection Daily entries at dailyripples.com — [email protected] Daily Ripples connects recovery principles with the life of faith. New episodes every day.