About

I robbed a bank, went to federal prison, and married the woman I'd abandoned while she was pregnant with my son.

That's the short version. The long version involves a lot of running, a voice in a jail cell, and a woman's forgiveness that I still don't fully understand.

My name is Josh Kilen. I'm a writer, a lay leader at my church in Tacoma, and a dad who almost wasn't. I write about three things:

Redemption. What it actually looks like to rebuild a life after you've wrecked it. Not the sanitized testimony version. The real one, with consequences that follow you and grace that follows those.

Masculine Formation. The crisis nobody wants to name. Boys becoming men without models, mentors, or any idea what they're aiming for. I write about the mentor-friend-pupil pattern and what it looks like to move from predator to protector.

Faith Without Pretending. Discipleship for people who can't fake it. I'm not a pastor. I've never been to seminary. I'm a felon who found God in a federal jail cell and has been trying to follow Him since. If your faith feels messy, you're in the right place.

I send one essay a week. No spam. No hustle. Just honest writing from someone who's still figuring it out.

I live in Tacoma with my wife Megan and our family. She's the one who forgave me when I didn't deserve it. Our story, and everything God has done through it, is what I write about.