L.I.V.E. – Love Infinite, Vigorously Exercised

  • Grief Care Strategies: Presence, Practice, and Praise

    When Grief Needs More Than Answers: A Pastoral Pathway of Presence, Practice, and Praise Grief doesn’t ask for quick fixes; it asks for faithful company. As pastoral caregivers and grief companions, we are invited to sit in sacred spaces where words can feel too small and silence feels heavy, but holy. The aim is not…

    Ze Selassie

  • Supporting Grieving Children: A Compassionate Guide

    When Little Hearts Grieve: A Pastoral Guide to Gentle Companionship Grief doesn’t arrive with a map, it arrives with a person. And that person, whether three or thirty-three, needs presence more than perfection. As pastors, chaplains, counselors, and caring adults, we often meet grief in its most tender forms: a child who won’t sleep since…

    Ze Selassie

  • Healing Hearts: A Guide for Pastoral Grief Support

    When Pastors Grieve: A Gentle Path for Grief Counseling and Grief Companionship A pastoral, research-informed guide to grief counseling and grief companionship; how churches can normalize lament, care for grieving hearts (including pastors), and cultivate sustainable rhythms of support and hope. Grief is not an interruption to ministry; it is the landscape we all eventually…

    Ze Selassie

  • Compassionate Care for Grieving Seniors: Best Practices

    Elders, Loss, and Love: A Grief Companion’s Guide to Walking with Late-Life Sorrow (Not Away From It) A pastoral, research-informed guide to grief companionship with older adults covering integrity vs. despair, wisdom over productivity, Kübler-Ross’ insights, grief vs. mourning, and practical steps churches and families can use to offer sacred presence. Introduction: When Presence Becomes…

    Ze Selassie

  • Understanding Grief Through Early Attachments

    The First Two Years: Trust, Attachment, and the Foundations of Grief Resilience Grief often reopens the earliest wounds of our lives. When we sit with someone in their sorrow, we are not only entering the space of their present loss but also the echoes of their earliest attachments. The first two years of life, as…

    Ze Selassie

  • Dominion and Discipleship

    I. Introduction Genesis 1 and 2 form the foundation of the Christian worldview. They reveal God as Creator, humanity as His image-bearers, and the earth as the stage of His glory. Central to these chapters is the concept of dominion (Hebrew: radah), humanity’s God-given responsibility over creation. Yet, this dominion is often misunderstood. Is it…

    Ze Selassie

  • Navigating Grief and Conflict through Faith

    Conflict, Grief, and the Will of God Grief is never just about the loss of a loved one. It often stirs conflict; conflict within families, within communities, and even within our own hearts. In moments of sorrow, disagreements can intensify, old wounds resurface, and silence can cut as deeply as words. But what if these…

    Ze Selassie

  • Navigating Grief: Conflict as a Path to Glorify God

    Conflict, Grief, and the Call to Glorify God Conflict often feels like the last thing we want to face when grief is already heavy. Families mourning a loved one may find themselves torn apart over funeral arrangements, inheritance, or even unspoken resentments that surface in sorrow. In those moments, grief feels doubled: we mourn the…

    Ze Selassie

  • Destiny, Free Will, and the Call to a New Way of Being

    In conversations about faith, life, and destiny, I often return to a simple truth: “My destination is a place that requires a new way of being.” Too often, destiny is imagined as a fixed outcome; a profession, a location, even a predetermined fate. But if destiny is only about where we end up, we risk…

    Ze Selassie

  • She Is Clothed in Strength: Reclaiming God’s Design for Women

    “Let all that you do be done with love.”— 1 Corinthians 16:14 Somewhere along the way, the word submit became a dirty word. It was hijacked, twisted, and used to make women small, silent, and stripped of their God-given identity. But when we look back beyond cultural distortions, beyond misinterpretations, beyond centuries of misuse, we…

    Ze Selassie