The Best Valentine
Do you look forward to Valentine’s Day, or do you try to ignore that it exists? There’s plenty of love out there for everybody.
Inspiration
Found in Translation
I don’t know her name. I don’t know anything about her. She is a sign language interpreter. That’s all I know. She sits onstage during tonight’s keynote address for the Savannah Book Festival. She is translating speech into ASL. She interprets for upwards of an hour.
A Cold Night In Louisiana
Somewhere in Louisiana. The Best Western. It’s late. The temperatures are freezing. I cannot feel my extremities. I am pretty sure the rock rolling around inside my shoe is my toe.
A Message For Her
To the woman who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The woman whose particular cancer, the doctor said, is the “bad kind.” Whatever the hell that means. Is there a “good kind” of breast cancer?
When Grace Gets Cancelled
Cancel culture seeks justice through exclusion, but the gospel calls Christians to a better way.
The Biggest Winner
Her husband left her with two kids and a Honda. She didn’t even have a place to stay. She moved in with her sister. She worked thankless jobs. And she hardly ever smiled. Not only because she was unhappy, but mostly because she was missing teeth.
A Story About a Fry Cook
The young man was quiet. He was a lowly fry-cook, salting endless baskets of French fries. Flipping acres of patties. Dropping pre-fried, shrink-wrapped, chemical-preservative-injected chicken breasts into nuclear silos of boiling synthetic lard.
Loud Guitars, Sharp Broadheads: Why Ted Nugent Still Matters to Michigan Hunters
There are rock stars… and then there are Michigan rock stars—the kind forged in cold air, hard miles, deer sign, and a stubborn refusal to apologize for loving the outdoors. Ted Nugent is that kind of animal.
Watching the Sky
The Holy Spirit is like a child waiting for snow—unpredictable, quietly exciting, and full of promise that something ordinary is about to be changed by God.
It’s A Sin To Kill A Mockingbird
It’s raining hard. Thundering loudly. Like the world is falling apart. And yet there is a mockingbird outside my window. The bird is unfazed by the downpour.
The Long Road
But in the end, the Camino de Santiago is just a road. That’s all it can ever be. The difference is, of course, when you’re on this road, you’re actually THERE.
Please Raise Your Hand
“What scares you most?” was the question asked to members of Mrs. Devonshire’s fourth-grade class. The little hands went up.
A Message For Her
I’m talking about the woman who isn’t used to being The Patient. Who used to be so full of dutiful energy for helping others. Who would do anything for anyone. And did.
Fuzzy Kitty: A Michigan Crime Story (Featuring Hoodie Bandits, Window Yeeting, and a $1,000 Vet Plan)
So…Let me tell you about Fuzzy.
A gray kitten my wife tried to adopt from the local animal shelter. My wife went in there like a normal, kind human being. She saw a little kitten and instantly fell in love—because that’s what happens when a decent person meets a tiny creature with big eyes and zero survival skills.
Winter Cleaning: Making Room in the Quiet Season
Winter cleaning, whether of our homes or our hearts, invites us to slow down, reflect honestly, and allow God to renew our hearts with grace.
The Warrior Brain is NOT a Glitch. It’s a God Given Gift.
Before the World Was Soft Civilization did not create the warrior brain. Civilization survived because of it. Long before laws, courts, or polite abstractions about peace, human beings existed in a world where violence was not exceptional—it was routine. Hunger, predators, rival tribes, and scarcity were constant pressures. The human nervous system evolved not to be calm, but to be ready.
Ginger Bias
In light of all the negative headlines, civil unrest, and the international political upheavals, I know many of you are anxious to know what I did for National Kiss a Ginger Day. Or maybe you missed this particular holiday.
Little Orphan Annie
When you’re having a bad day, think of her. She was born in Agawam, Massachusetts. One year after the Civil War. The daughter of Irish immigrants.
The Woman on the Curb
I see her on the street. She is a hospice nurse. I know this because she is standing directly beside her company SUV, which is covered in vinyl logos, parked outside an older house. She is mid-40s, wearing scrubs. And crying. Face-in-her-hands crying.
The January Spaces
January may feel like a long, cold stretch of waiting, but God uses these ordinary, in-between times to shape our faith, deepen our trust, and remind us that He is just as present in the January gloom as He was in the December joy.