I am alive to love, and I am unavailable for anything less than love. The way of love is my favorite high-priority subject, serving as my North Star and my lifelong commitment that I am not on this earth for hate, nor am I breathing, eating, and sleeping to regain energy for causing pain. Everything else devolves into BS, and walking this path has been an imperfect leaning into gravity, hoping it keeps pulling me forward as I stumble, bumble, skip, and sometimes limp along this way.

Sometimes to inspire people, you have to aggravate them first to stir them to life to consider how to move their thoughts toward something better. Trappist monk Thomas Merton aggravated me when he said medieval talk about love does nothing and that we must admit we do not know the meaning of love in any context, ancient or new. Here in 2026, as millions exit the church, we cannot address this decline through culture wars or by using "truth" as an excuse to abuse; love is not a license to say whatever the heck I want to say, but the way of living with people, not against them.

The way of love is a long, lifelong walk in one direction—a meditation, a contemplation, and a pilgrimage where we seek discoveries along the way. It invites us away from constant external input and noise into an internal silence where we ask ourselves: what does the way of love look like for Randy Dean today? In the way of love, I listen, seek to understand rather than be understood, and ask what it is about me that prevents me from loving thee, choosing to become a lover of all humankind rather than proving how right I am and how wrong you are.

The biggest mistake we're making is thinking we got time, but I'm asking you to join me: be present, be kind, love more, love now. Slow it down, breathe deep, and embrace the practice of looking people in the eye and saying, "I love you," even if it feels awkward, weird, or startling. Ugly is getting done to death, so go out there and do something beautiful, be the people of beauty, and love everyone you meet.

If there is one subject I want to spend the rest of my life proclaiming, unpacking, and living, it’s this: unfailing, unrelenting love. In this episode, we continue our deep dive into love versus religious and church trauma. As someone who has pastored for over 50 years, I want to say something directly to you: no church or religious institution has a inherent right to exist based on legacy alone. Our only right to exist is found in the words of Jesus, if we actually have love for one another.

Too many people have been deeply wounded by spiritual abuse, fear based dogmas, and toxic theology. Today, I offer a sincere apology on behalf of church leaders who have failed to carry their authority with integrity and compassion. We unpack how twisted concepts, like picturing God as a galactic beast waiting to send you to hell, end times scare tactics, anti science mindsets, and weaponized sexism, have damaged the human soul. The Bible was written to reveal the spiritual pilgrimage of humanity, not to be brandished as a weapon against human intellect, gender, or dignity.

True, unconditional love is the ultimate medicine and the only doctrine big enough to heal spiritual injury. In this conversation, we get back to the core truth that love is our supreme measure for how to live, breathe, and heal. We will also ground ourselves together in the Lord’s Prayer, recite my weekly Love’s Creed, and walk through a simple contemplative breathing exercise designed to help you release trauma, center your spirit, and remember your inherent worth.

You are unavailable for anything less than love, and I hope this episode serves as a restorative step on your journey toward freedom. If you'd like a copy of Love's Creed, feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected] with zero fluff or pitch attached. Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with anyone who needs spiritual healing today; let’s go into the world and do something beautiful, because ugly has been done to death.

I tackle a deeply urgent issue facing so many today: the antidote to religious trauma. Over the last quarter-century, upwards of 40 million people have walked away from the traditional church. When you look under the hood of institutional religion, it’s not hard to see why. For generations, people have been fed a theology rooted in fear, guilt, and the toxic idea that they are born cursed—a mindset that inflicts real, lasting damage on mental health and spiritual well-being.

We weren't born under a curse; we were born precious, profoundly embraced, and eternally accepted. Join me as we unpack the galactic power of love to dismantle religious trauma, restore our inner peace, and bring a little more beauty into a world that's getting done to death by ugly.

“It is remarkable how little doctrine relates to love.”Dallas Willard once observed that doctrinal statements rarely say anything about love, and that churches have often failed to help people become genuinely loving. His challenge is simple and piercing: "We do not, in any effectual way, make love our aim."

That quote has been echoing in my heart because I believe it names one of the deepest struggles facing the Church today. If Jesus founded His Church on one defining principle, it was love. Everything else we teach, defend, debate, and build should grow from that single root. When love becomes secondary, we may preserve doctrine, but we lose the very thing that gives it life.

In this episode, I ask what it would look like if churches stopped measuring success by being right and instead became known for becoming genuinely loving people. I reflect on my own fifty years in ministry, the wisdom of Dallas Willard, and why I believe the Church's future depends less on refining theological arguments and more on practicing love in tangible, daily ways.

My hope is simple: that we would pause our endless arguments long enough to rediscover the one thing Jesus said everything else hangs upon. If we truly make love our aim, I believe we'll find not only the heart of Christ, but the future of His Church.

I believe all we really need is a revolution of love. Not a sentimental love. Not a passive love. A tenacious, exuberant love that lays down the swords of politics, certainty and fear in order to pursue something greater. I believe love isn't something we simply hope for—it's something we choose to do every day.

In this episode, I explore what it means to pursue progress instead of perfection. Too often we become consumed with proving we're right or defeating the people we disagree with. I believe love calls us to something higher—a daily commitment to invest our lives in compassion, grace and the courage to keep choosing love.

I also reflect on the witness of Jesus and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose lives continue to remind me that unconditional love and unarmed truth are stronger than fear, hate and division. We don't overcome darkness by creating more darkness, and we don't heal our neighbors by treating them like enemies. Love remains the only way up and out.

The biggest mistake we make is thinking we still have time. Today is the day to be present, to lay down our swords and to choose love. I believe revolutions don't begin with institutions—they begin with ordinary people who decide that love will shape the way they speak, live and treat the people right in front of them.

I've come to believe that an uninjured love doesn't exist. If you've chosen to love people, you've also chosen to experience disappointment, rejection, misunderstanding, and heartbreak along the way.

But what if those injuries aren't the end of your story? What if an injured love, when it's allowed to heal, becomes a passionate love?

In this episode, I invite you to reject the impossible expectation of an uninjured life and instead embrace the lifelong work of rehabilitation, recovery, and restoration. We'll explore why love is worth every risk, how refusing to take injuries personally can set us free, and why choosing love again is one of the most courageous decisions we can make.

Love isn't a sprint. It's a lifetime marathon. Let's rise above the injury together and discover the beauty of a love that refuses to quit.

What does it mean to love the world the way God loves the world?

For years, many of us have been taught to keep this world at arm's length, as though loving it somehow distracts us from heaven. But Jesus said, "For God so loved the world." I believe it's time we take those words seriously.

In this episode, I reflect on the beauty of creation, the difference between loving the world and loving worldly systems, and why every sunrise, every grain of sand, every full moon, every breath, and every person is an invitation to live more deeply in love.

If I'm alive to love, then I'm here for this world. I'm here to care for it, to wonder at it, and to be fully present in it. Maybe that's one of the most faithful ways we can follow Jesus.

Take a deep breath with me, look up, and let's remember what a gift it is to be here.

What if the most important commandment isn't a list of rules, but a single word: love?

In this episode, I reflect on a powerful quote from Saint Augustine: "Love God and do whatever you please." At first glance, that might sound reckless, but Augustine's deeper point is that a life genuinely shaped by love naturally moves toward what is good, beautiful, and life-giving. Together, we'll explore why love isn't a sentimental idea but a practical way of living that can guide our choices, our relationships, and even our disagreements.

Along the way, I'll share wisdom from Jesus, Saint Augustine, Bernice King, Mother Teresa, and a few stories from my own life about moments when love showed up and changed everything. From grocery store lines to community meetings to personal struggles with depression, we'll consider what it means to make love our true north instead of outrage, fear, or judgment.

Ugly is getting done to death these days. Maybe the invitation before us is simpler than we think: be love, do love, and create a little more beauty in the world. So take a deep breath, settle in, and let's talk about the power of a life arranged around love.

Fear is what actually creates a loveless life. I don't believe anybody is born to hate. We're born to love. But when we live too long in the zone of fear and hurt, hate can become part of the curriculum. I've lived there, and on this episode I want to tell you about finding the exit signs.

As Father's Day approaches, I share some of my own story growing up in a dysfunctional family, navigating pain, discovering the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the people God used to show me a different way. From an old German immigrant who told me, "God loves you, and I love you," to hearing my own father finally say, "Randy, I love you," I found my way out of the zone of fear and hurt and into the zone of love.

I hope my voice becomes a voice in the wilderness for somebody. I hope you hear me saying that there is a way out. I challenge you to do something beautiful, to say "I love you" with intention, and to help others find the exit sign out of fear and hurt and into love.

Ugly has had its day. Let's do something beautiful.

“There's more hunger for love in this world than there is for bread.”

— Mother Teresa

What if the walk of faith is actually much simpler than we've made it?

In this episode, I explore one of Jesus' first instructions after the resurrection: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven." I believe those words point us directly to the walk and way of love. Too often, we've become experts at pointing out failures, assigning guilt, and drawing lines between "us" and "them." But Jesus sent His followers into the world with a different mission: go forgiving.

Drawing from John 20 and my work with people in recovery through Spiritual Program Retreat, I share why forgiveness isn't weakness, why love doesn't need to be "tough" to be transformative, and how a healed understanding of God can open the door to freedom, hope, and genuine spiritual growth.

If we want the world to know who Jesus is, we have to walk the way He walked: loving more, forgiving more, and refusing to retain the failures of others.

Love's the only answer. Let's walk the way of love together.