Many of you may want to know what this site is for, and what "tilted halos" means. At least, that is the response I'm hoping for. Because the process of explaining encompasses a lot of what I believe and a lot of what I believe to be important in life.

"tilted halos" is a phrase that comes from a book by Brennan Manning called The Ragamuffin Gospel, one of the best books ever written about how we relate to God. I can best convey the meaning by quoting from The Ragamuffin Gospel, the opening illustration to the chapter tilted halos:

A man walked into a doctor's office and said, 'Doctor, I have this awful headache that never leaves me. Could you give me something for it?'

'I will,' said the doctor, 'but I want to check a few things out first. Tell me, do you drink a lot of liquor?'

'Liquor?' said the man indignantly. 'I never touch the filthy stuff.'

'How about smoking?'

'I think smoking is disgusting. I've never in my life touched tabacco.'

'I'm a bit embarassed to ask this, but--you know the way some men are--do you do any running around at night?'

'Of course not. What do you take me for? I'm in bed every night by ten o'clock at the latest.'

'Tell me,' said the doctor, 'the pain in the head you speak of, is it a sharp, shooting kind of pain?'

'Yes,' said the man. 'That's it--a sharp, shooting kind of pain.'

'Simple, my dear fellow! Your trouble is you have your halo on too tight. All we need to do is loosen it up a bit.'

This story makes light of the way so many Christians--and people in general--wear their piety, their religiosity, their self-righteousness with such pride that they judge everyone. The problem with this is that we have really no right to judge others. For myself, I know I have neither the time nor the credentials to judge anyone, and so I'm not going to waste my time trying.

Brennan writes that "the tilted halo of the saved sinner is worn loosely and with easy grace." This is the purpose of the title of this site: to inspire and remind each of us of that the best way to live life is wearing humbly the tilted halo of the saved sinner. Admitting that we have no right to judge--that we are all here and breathing by the grace of God.

"To be alive is to be broken; to be broken is to stand in need of grace. It is only through grace that any of us could dare to hope that we could become more like Christ. The saved sinner with the tilted halo has been converted from mistrust to trust, has arrived at an inner poverty of spirit, and lives as best as he or she can in rigorous honesty with self, others, and God."

This is the spirit in which I want to live my life and conduct my relationships. I want to be honest without regret, and transparent about who I am.

A part of wearing a tilted halo well is knowing that you are saved by grace. In Hebrew, the word for 'Daddy' is abba, and when Jesus teaches us how to pray in Matthew 6:9-13, he uses the word abba to refer to God. This was the most shocking and offensive thing Jesus could have said to his Jewish audience--and the most awesome. Here, Jesus revealed the true face of God--a face unknown to humanity until that moment. Brennan, in a sermon, commented on this, saying:

"...what Jesus is teaching His people is that the God in whose presence Moses had to remove his feet because he was standing on holy ground, that the God from whose fingertips this universe fell, the God beside whose beauty the Grand Canyon is only a shadow, the God beside whose power Hurricane Andrew is nothing; Jesus says we may dare to address the infinite, transcendent, almighty God... in baby talk. With the same intimacy, familiarity, and reverence as a sixteen month old baby, sitting on his father's lap, calling da-da-daddy."

It is scary to think that we can approach God as a father while at the same time revering Him as God and living in Holy fear of Him. Tozer sums this up well in The Knowledge of the Holy when he writes:

"The greatness of God rouses fear within us, but his goodness encourages us not to be afraid of Him. To fear and not be afraid--that is the paradox of faith."

This site is meant to be an exploration of the paradox of doubt and faith. tiltedhalos.com was originally born out of a very rough period in life when God broke me down and started to teach me about His character and what it really means to be "poor in spirit." A part of me feels sorry now when I hear people pray, "God, please give me brokenness," because I know it is a prayer God is faithful to answer--and his answer will tear complacency and comfort from your life with all the force of a tsunami.

I've complied (and will continue to add to) a collection of stories, poems, songs and images that explore doubt, faith and my own experiences. On this site you will find some of the best writing on earth (at least in my humble opinion), and some of the profoundest thoughts of our greatest thinkers... and you will also find that the greatest thoughts are all just shadows and window dressing to the greatest truth: God is, and God is always greater.

I hope you find something to hold on to here that will inspire you and spur you on. As Paul writes in closing to almost all his letters in the gospels, "Grace be with you. Amen."