Jesus & Me: Questioning God, Life, and Everything in Between (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798249088491)

What happens when everything you thought you knew about God, the Bible, and yourself no longer feels true?

Kirk Sheppard spent forty-five years inside the walls of evangelical certainty. He earned three degrees at Bible college. He taught in a Masters of Counseling program. He carried his Bible through the halls of his junior high like a sword. He also hid the fact that he was gay for most of his adult life.

When a TikTok video by a biblical scholar cracked the foundation of everything he believed, Kirk didn't lose his faith quietly. He wrestled with it - through his counseling practice, through decades of shame and secrecy, through the slow, painful, sometimes hilarious process of figuring out what was real and what was inherited.

Jesus & Me is the story of that process. It's funny, honest, and unresolved in all the right ways. Kirk doesn't pretend to have arrived somewhere tidy. He's still at the table - still asking questions, still holding anger and compassion at the same time, still figuring out what Jesus means to him now that he's stopped calling himself a Christian.

Drawing on twenty years as a licensed therapist, Kirk weaves his own story with those of clients navigating religious trauma, identity, and the messy aftermath of deconstruction. From a bookstore manager leading a kazoo exorcism to a former stepfather's tears at a funeral visitation, the stories in this book are specific, surprising, and deeply human.

This revised second edition reflects years of continued growth - as a writer, a counselor, and a person. It's leaner, more focused, and written by someone who's had a little more time to sit with the mess.

If you're questioning, unraveling, or just quietly wondering whether there's more to the story - welcome. You're not alone.