Guess what? I am starting a podcast.

Why I am choosing not to quit after grief

Guess what? I’m launching a video podcast, but I want to be honest before telling you about it.

This year, I’ve wanted to quit more than I ever have in my life. Yes, I have wanted to stop my work and find a cave to crawl into. Why, you ask? Well, the past two years took a toll on me in ways that I was not expecting, and I have been filled with sorrow after sorrow from blow after blow life has dealt me.

Many of you remember the life-changing accident that left me with a disability and learning to walk again, which took nearly eight months from 2022-2023.

Well, immediately after learning to walk at the beginning of 2023, my dad became severely ill. I spent almost a full year in the hospital with him as a caregiver with my sister(s), and earlier this year, I lost him (2024).

Months later, my son ended up in the hospital (2024), and our family received a lifelong diagnosis concerning his health. The blows have been crushing.

I do not believe my heart will ever get past the pain from the loss I have felt these past years, and there have been many days I have cried out to God, trying to process the grief.

If you know grief like I do, it is hard to wrestle with. It is fluid and comes and goes just as fast as the wind on a day with inclement weather. It is not linear and definitely not predictable. I have done everything to manage—therapy, gym, journaling, nature walks, reading—but despite my efforts, the grief wall sometimes appears.

Even writing this has chills running down my arms because I know vulnerability is the only way forward.

But, over the past month, I had a breakthrough, and something shifted. I finally found the courage to visit my father’s grave. His gravestone reads, “A man of resilience. Forever Forward.”

My father’s gravestone. It is so appropriate.

Standing there, I cried and remembered all the moments we shared during his last days. During that grief, I recalled a conversation we had. I had asked him how he developed his faith in the Lord, and I got to record his response in audio (I still play from time to time). To my surprise, He told me he had been watching how I helped people and that it moved him to seek God before his transition.

Before his transition, I told him I wanted to start a podcast, and I still hear his voice saying from the hospital bed, “You should do that.”

Reflecting on that conversation brought me hope. It also sparked a journey to integrate grief into my life’s work and my work with Love Beyond Walls—to find meaning again.

That’s when the name came to me: “Imagine Dignity Podcast.”

He often told me, “No matter what life throws at you, you have to be forever forward.”

Those words have stayed with me and have become one of the guiding principles in my life and work as I continue to show up with everything I have—even on some of the most grief-filled days.

That’s why this podcast is so important to me. In a world that often pushes us to chase success and move away from our roots and connection with one another, I want to stay close to the community that has always grounded me.

This podcast is my way of being proximate to those who are overlooked, giving them a platform to share their stories and humanize their experiences.

My hope for this podcast is simple: to spread kindness, affirm dignity, and remind people that they are loved in the face of social stigma.

I want to reframe what it means to be a neighbor to those without an address in a world where apathy and distance grow more than love and belonging.

This podcast is my form of advocacy, a way to pass the microphone to people judged for not having a home and allow them to reclaim the power of their voices and stories.

By sharing these stories, I believe I will contribute to the fabric of social change, contribute to the conversation around this plight locally and nationally, and help build a more empathetic world.

This past summer, the Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutional for cities and states to create laws targeting the unhoused community. To ensure this issue isn’t swept under the rug, I’ve chosen to launch this video podcast—no fancy studios, no microphones, just heart, dignity, and community members who have faced mistreatment.

And guess what? These are the most humbling conversations and stories I’ve ever heard.

So, Dad, I’m weeks away from starting my YouTube channel and video podcast, as we discussed, and I am launching it on your birthday, October 4, 2024.

I miss you.

Son

I’m launching my first video podcast next month once I reach 100 subscribers on YouTube. Would you please consider subscribing to help me launch this podcast to advocate for those who are unhoused?

Your support will help amplify their voices and bring attention to the issues they face. Please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel by clicking the image below:

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Order “Zion Learns To See: Opening Our Eyes To Homelessness” [HERE]

If you want to explore homelessness in the U.S., please consider reading “I See You: How Love Opens Our Eyes to Invisible People.”

Explore my book “When We Stand: The Power of Seeking Justice Together” to learn about the impact of community involvement and collective action on social change.

Discover “All God’s Children: How Confronting Buried History Can Build Racial Solidarity to gain insight into the significance of understanding the historical narratives that shape people and how you might stand in solidarity with your neighbor.

Or, subscribe to the Love Beyond Walls Newsletter—by visiting the site and signing up.