Jurell Sison
I was born in Cleveland to immigrant parents from the Philippines. I was raised Catholic, and even as a kid, church gave me a sense of peace I didn’t yet know how to explain. At the same time, most of my adolescence unfolded far from anything that looked traditionally religious.
By the time I was fifteen, I was playing in punk rock bands—walking into smoke-filled bars downtown, hauling gear past adults with drinks in their hands, playing shows across the city. Music consumed my high school years. From the outside, it probably looked exciting. Inside, something felt empty.
I went to church, but I didn’t belong anywhere. I didn’t do youth group or campus ministry. And as high school came to an end, I began to realize I didn’t really feel like myself. I didn’t have language for that yet—but I knew something was missing.
That language came after my first retreat, the summer after I graduated. For the first time, I felt free… I felt whole… I felt like myself. I realized Jesus wasn’t asking me to become someone else. He was inviting me to finally be myself. After years of pretending, that mattered more than anything.
Years later, while working in campus ministry, a priest mentor did something simple that changed everything. He invited students to run a race—believing they were capable of more than they thought. He called the group The Living Person.
I watched what happened when people were challenged—mind, body, and spirit. Students ran their first 5K. Prayed consistently. Showed up differently to their lives. They didn’t just build habits. They changed how they saw themselves.
That became the heart of TLP and while it’s different these days, the work continues on.
Reflect
What does it mean to “finally be myself” in the context of faith or spirituality?
What’s the difference between building habits and changing how you see yourself?
What parts of this story resonated most with you, and why?
Where do you feel invited to grow—mind, body, or spirit—right now?
Why do you think community matters so much in sustaining personal transformation?
Pray
Lord Jesus,
Even when we wandered, You never stopped calling us home.
Jesus, thank You for meeting us where we are - not asking us to become someone else, but inviting us to become who You created us to be. Free us from pretending. Heal the parts of us that feel divided or unseen.
Thank You for the people who believe in us when we doubt ourselves, and who remind us that holiness is possible.
Teach us to run the race set before us, not for our own glory, but so that our lives may give glory to You.
Amen.
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