7This table. I sat down at this table, and I stayed. Without having to try to hide my shortcomings. Instead, we shared ours and even slapped our knees laughing about a few. Because some mistakes are so undoubtably insane that you have no choice but to laugh at them. This table didn't try to perfect themselves. They embraced our imperfectness. Then we moved forward to what was ahead. Not glued to our mess ups.You see, loving this man Jesus isn't contingent on whether or not we mess up. Loving Jesus is acknowledging we fell short, (even if it is yet again. Trust me, I know all about that) and choosing to get right back up. Christianity isn't perfection, my friend. We are not called to have it all together. We are going to mess up and we are going to fall.Choose to get back up. We can hide out and beat ourselves up for messing up, of course. But when it's all said and done, God is still God. He forgives. He doesn't disown what is His. So yeah, we can mourn in it for weeks, but we will come to the conclusion that it's time to move forward because there is such ahead. But the question that sat deep in my soul in one season was, how much time are we going to let go to waste in the duration? He already forgave us. It's up to us when we choose to get back up. It's up to us to pull up our mistake, look at it, maybe laugh about it, and toss it over our shoulder. There's so much ahead. Now go get it, friend.And hey, just for the books - I am still sitting at the second table. Everyday._________"Hi. I'm Hope. This is me, raw and authentic. I have been walking with Jesus for four years and I've been in ministry for six years. What an irony. Just because someone is in ministry doesn't always mean they're living right. I work at the church where I was kicked out of youth group seven years ago and it is one of my favorite things to share. I dropped out of High School in the tenth grade but now I am one of the directors for a college. I had a two in speech class my freshman year but now I speak and laugh about it. I have been writing for four years and I plan to continue to write.I live in Gainesville, Georgia. The chicken capital of the United States and I always chuckle under my breath because this is so not my thing. My heart is for people. Specifically young adults, and specifically the people who haven't made it to church yet. There are a multitude of people to reach the people who are inside the walls of a church - my heart is for the people who haven't made it here yet. It is my goal to hear the story of every individual I meet because I believe everyone has a story worth hearing. It is my passion to celebrate the mistakes of life because we are who we are because of them. It is my heart to celebrate humanity because we all go through it and we all need a little celebration to keep moving.I write and I speak, but my favorite thing to do is notice people. And love them in a way where all they can say is, "If this is how Jesus is... then I'm in."