Christmas sure isn’t the same for everyone. I’ve heard/read/processed it all during my life. Some hold tight to the virgin birth. Others laugh at the contemporary holiday driven by greed. Still others view it as the pinnacle of family and prioritizing the year to come. Christmas does’t look the same…

I’ve wandered my way into the firestorm called pickleball starting about a year ago. Every Tuesday night, I play for about 3 hours with a group of 12–20 guys. We gather outdoors whether it’s 25 or 85 degrees. My introduction was on tennis courts so it’s not really REAL pickleball…

It’s another paradox. This duality. The calm and storm of life coexisting at the same time, sometimes at the same moment. I’ve never been one to surrender. Well, that’s a lie. I did far too often until I was 30 or so. It was present in imbalance. I entertained and…

She’s 4’9”. All sorts of spindly wonderful. Her limbs stretch out and out. She’s danced throughout her life but competitive sport hasn’t been her thing. Soccer was her first real go in team sports earlier this spring. Landon has always been the athletic one. He’s into anything and everything that…

The sunlight bids us farewell but this city on a hill still shines One by one they gather, anticipation grows as a community waits The light pours through glass pane soaking the soon to be holy ground They stand, surrounding the strangers that have come As sound erupts so too…

Cafe Watoto As we turn off the paved road, we begin a slight climb on hardened combination of clay and stone. Deep ruts grab the tires, formed from the rains that make this such a fertile place. The bus rocks back and forth as we approach the gates. We zigzagged…

The Arrival A group of strangers, all red-eyed and jet lagged and somewhat disoriented from 36 hrs of travel, gather their bags in Entebbe Airport. The line at the customs booth is only about 5–6 people deep. This shouldn’t take long. The air is heavy and not moving. We’re all…

“Fate whispers to the warrior, ‘You cannot withstand the storm. The warrior whispers back, ‘I am the storm.’” They are born mere mortals. Regular flesh and bone. Men and women of humble beginnings. But somehow, in ways we can’t fathom, they seize the moment, rise and conquer their foes. They…

The strategy: educate, enter, earn, invest and retire. It seems straight forward; proven in the effectiveness and outcome. But, oh, I’d say life is much less linear in its cause and effect. Everything has a cost. It’s just choosing how, what and when you want to pay for it. The…