Rick McNally / January 15, 2026

Back in March when I was at Alongside going through some stuff, coming to grips with my personal situation and trying to make sense of it all I wrote these priorities. Here they are expressed in a note this morning. The original note is down at the bottom of this page.

These things still resonate with me.

If we don’t encounter God and his Word first hand we miss so very much. It makes all the difference in the world.

If we ignore the Spirit and lean on the flesh to guide us and empower us we are nothing. Legalism is just good looking licentiousness dressed up for a party. The Spirit brings love, joy, peace, patience, etc.

If we try to control others and find pleasure or joy in that control we inevitably do bad things. Rather, treating everyone with respect and with the Freedom that is theirs in Christ brings life and liberty.

If truth doesn’t matter and we just look good on the outside (no honesty, no repentance) we are hollow and have found the leaven of the Pharisees. This is a horrible existence managing image and letting the lies keep getting spun — and then find ourselves caught in our own web.

The church is an organism that is Spiritually Jesus’ very body. We are baptized into it when we believe. Our human institutions are NOT that Church. Our institutions, if they are obedient to the Word, can reflect that organization or become very bad shams of the true Church.

Below, as promised… Here are my original notes from the dark and beautiful days of late March 2025. I am so thankful for Alongside for helping me move through trouble to finding God’s will and God’s healing.