32 inches to freedom

Back at you with another bald blog!! 

As you know, it’s been over a year since I shaved my head. It’s still one of the most liberating things I’ve ever experienced. Since that day, I have had the pleasure of cutting lots of hair. Right before I left for team leading, I decided to invest in my own clippers and bring them on the race with me. I got to cut a few different haircuts all the way from trims to a mullet. There have been 3 haircuts that stuck out to me, not because of their outward beauty, but because of their inward meaning. 

“To me, my hair was everything, it was once my favorite features of myself. Having that mindset for so long I became overly comfortable and found my image of myself wrapped around it. For as long as my hair has been long I have had countless people coming up to me with the first words coming out of their mouths being about my hair. I loved the attention it brought, but I soon realized that any other part of myself was not being mentioned. I wanted to challenge myself to not wait for the conversation to come to me but to be the one to start the conversation with others. Hair will always grow but now I want to focus on how I can spiritually grow. Cutting my hair meant, fully stepping into a new season and letting go of my past and the weight it once held on me.” -Evelyn Raspa 

“Hi I’m Caden… and I buzzed my hair. Since my freshman year of high school I have had longish hair. I’ve found a ton of confidence in my hair for many years. The long curls in a way defined me in my own eyes. I felt like I started to become actually ME with the hair. I found a new friend group in high school with the long hair, found a passion for photography with the long hair, got my first girlfriend with the long hair, graduated high school with the long hair… and yes, I found a real relationship with Jesus with the long hair. Since coming on the race my faith in God has grown abundantly, so much that I honestly feel like a new man. About a week ago, I felt like God was asking me to buzz my hair. I didn’t know why at first, and I really didn’t want to, like I said the hair defined me. But after a while of praying through it, and praying that God would give me someone to do it with me, He came through in multiple ways. Kaylin showed me a video of why she shaved her head a year ago, during the whole time watching I felt God tugging at my heart that he wanted me to.  And later this same night my good friend Hayden who is on my team decided out of the blue he was gonna shave his head. I knew right away I was supposed to do it with him. So I did it, I stepped into a completely new look, and I took a step further into all in faithfulness in God. God has shown me that how I look does not define me, because I know who I am in his eyes.. and that silly hair doesn’t matter.” -Caden Adams 

“Hi I’m Hayden, to me I didn’t think that my hair meant that much to me until I cut it. I think that I spent a lot of time thinking that my hair was my only form of confidence. I originally cut my hair to get rid of my prior haircut but it turned into me realizing that this could be an opportunity of growth and I could learn how to put my confidence in something else other than my hair.” -Hayden Lacy

The love I have for these three is pretty big. Forever thanking God for freedom & joy & hair (or lack there of). What freedom are you choosing to walk into this season? 

Kaylin <3