Nonprofits

Every piece of clay starts as a lump with no purpose. But the potter never walks away from clay that's messed up. He picks it up, puts it on the wheel, and shapes it into something that matters.

I was born into a life that looked normal on the outside but needed deep shaping underneath. Feeling different from everyone around me led to pain deep enough that by eight or nine years old, I had already attempted suicide three times. At nineteen I became legally blind, and the anger that came with it led to twelve more attempts. Loneliness opened the door to an addiction I hid from everyone.

Facing your challenges is going to take pulling. It's going to take pushing. It's going to take pressure. But when you go through that process, you become somebody who's able to change the world.

The question is: are you willing to allow a potter to shape the challenges you're going through in your life?

Accountability with other people is what finally helped me surrender my addiction and start healing. What came out of the pressure, the pulling, the mistakes that got fixed instead of thrown away, is joy, not happiness, because happiness only solves a quick problem, and joy carries you through it. Perseverance. And a character with real hope built into it.

You matter. Not because your life is easy, but because you're still being shaped, the same as I am.

I'd love to bring my pottery wheel to your organization, and while I shape a piece from start to finish, show your people what it looks like to let pressure become purpose, so they walk away knowing they matter, and that whatever they're carrying can still be shaped into something that changes the world.

That's how it becomes a beautiful piece.