Jamie Wright

Welcome to my life.

About 100 years ago, in 2007, I boldly marched out of the suburbs and into the world of Christian missions, wide-eyed and altruistic as fuck. When I took on the title of Missionary, I earnestly thought I’d been called by God to go do something amazing in a faraway land, and though I was completely unfamiliar with the language, culture, and spiritual climate of Costa Rica, I sincerely thought I would be able to make a difference there. This was, in part, because I believed the lies I’d been told by the Christian Missions Machine: that all I had to do was show up no matter how unprepared or ill-equipped and God would do the rest, and that if only one person was helped, encouraged, or “blessed” in some way, then it would all be worth it.

What I didn’t know, as I snaked my way through Costa Rican customs and immigration to start a new life in Latin America (along with my spouse and three sons) was that I was diving headlong into a broken system. I had no idea that I’d fully committed to a billion-dollar black hole, endlessly fed by good-intentions, gross entitlement, and an unchecked stream of white savior colonial bullshit. It didn’t take long for me to wonder if maybe it’s not enough to “just show up” and “let God do the rest” or to consider that maybe spending billions to send scores of wealthy Americans into impoverish communities to bless “just one person” isn’t actually worth it.

This blog grew out of the five years I lived abroad as a missionary and my subsequent return to the U.S. When people ask me what I write about, I usually say something like, “Oh it’s just a faith and lifestyle blog.” And that’s true. But the deeper reality is that these pages contain the deconstruction of my faith, the foibles and failures of my life, and, occasionally, moments of triumph, grace, and humility. From my opinions on the dumpster fire we call Christian missions to a tutorial for baking a pie into a cake, around here you’ll find a little bit of everything.

But here’s your fair warning:

I am snarky and sarcastic.
I can be cynical to a fault.
I say fuck a lot.
I make up words whenever I feel like it.
I don’t know how to use commas and all that shit and I don’t care. Like, at all.
It doesn’t bother me if you disagree with my opinions, even vehemently.
Because.
I don’t need you to like me. (Pretty sure this is a spiritual gift, and I have it. So yeah.)
I do, however, hope that despite my assholey ways you’ll see still see that I love people and I love Jesus.
…Or, at the very least, that I’m doing my best.

Cheers!

~jamie