“Everyday Spiritual Practices” (ed. Scott Alexander) changed how I looked at all the various activities I undertook, but most profoundly service on boards and committees, especially at church.

How simple monastic study turned my heart away from dogma and helped launch a quest for love and life.

Been there when my real family didn’t and saved two people from suicide.

This story, though somewhat long, takes me from my mid teens to my late 60s and my journey from a protestant church, to a fundamentalist church, to being unchurched, and finally to finding a new church home at the First Unitarian Church of Des Moines.

Kenneth, an incarcerated CLF member shares his story of hope and resilience: I came here a drug addicted mad man with a “death wish.” I’m now a down to earth man with a “life wish.” I can tell you that I account for this transformation by having been introduced to Unitarian Universalism.