The journal
Honest reflections on fatherhood, faith, healing, leadership, adventure, and the space between expectation and reality.
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The Gift and the Chain I’ve never liked receiving gifts. If the five love languages were laid out like a mountain range, receiving gifts would be the low valley in my landscape. Shadowed, uncomfortable, a place I tend…
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The Weight of the Pack Every hiker learns the same lesson the hard way: what you carry matters. As a young Boy Scout, I often…
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When the Trail Disappears It’s strange how quickly the world can vanish. One moment you’re following a well-marked trail, the crunch of gravel steady beneath…
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The Myth of Grit People often tell me I’m resilient. They mean it as a compliment. A nod to my ability to take the hits…
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The Myth of Arrival: The Hollow Wind on the Ridge From below, the summit gleams like salvation. The peak whispers its promises: just a little…
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The Trailhead I remember road marches during my Army days at Fort Benning, Georgia. We’d start around 2 a.m., moving out under the stars into…
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The Winding Trail Life doesn’t always unfurl like a neatly drawn map. The lines we sketch as children (graduate, build a career, marry, raise children,…
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I’ve spent nights in the mountains where the fire was my only anchor. The wind cut sharp, the dark pressed in, and no matter how…
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Freedom With Boundaries Shortly after the first wave of COVID-19, something unexpected happened in the wide-open spaces of America. The National Park Service began closing…
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Reading the Sky of the Soul Every morning, I give my students a writing prompt. An invitation to explore the thoughts in their heads and…
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Continue the journey through The Anatomy of a Hard Heart, or begin a conversation about the road you are walking.
