Category: Faith

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Look… up in the sky…!

DISCLAIMER: SUPERMAN and all related elements are the property of DC Comics. TM & © 2025
DISCLAIMER: SUPERMAN and all related elements are the property of DC Comics. TM & © 2025

When I was a kid, Saturday mornings meant parking myself in front of the TV to watch Superman. George Reeves was the man back then, and everything was in black and white. The episodes were basically the same every week: mild‑mannered Clark Kent, Jimmy Olsen, and Lois Lane all working at the newspaper… and sooner or later, either Jimmy or Lois would end up in some life‑threatening situation. As the clock ticked toward their pending doom, “mild‑mannered Clark Kent” would catch wind of the trouble and sprint off to the nearest telephone booth. He’d duck inside, and moments later he’d burst out as Superman.

The music always made it even better. It would shift from this tense, perilous buildup to a full‑on powerful crescendo the second Clark disappeared into that booth. Then—boom—Superman would leap into action. People would look up and shout, “Look… up in the sky… it’s a bird… it’s a plane… no… it’s Superman!”

Those moments lit something in me. I genuinely believed I could be Superman. I’d even clothespin a bath towel to the back of my T‑shirt as a cape, climb onto the playhouse in our backyard, and jump off just to see if maybe—just maybe—I could fly.

Fast forward…

Now here we are at the start of Christmas week. The shopping is done. The big meals are planned. Everything’s lined up for the usual adult version of Christmas. But I don’t want this moment to just be about buying and eating. I want to pause and sit with the significance of what we’re actually celebrating—and why it matters.

What we’re celebrating is the birth of Jesus. But not just that—so much more. From the very beginning, as Genesis tells it, God created man and woman and walked with them in the garden. Everything was perfect. God enjoyed them, and they enjoyed Him. Then that relationship broke, and sin entered the world. A perfect God and sin can’t coexist, so a gap formed between the two.

The Bible then walks us through thousands of years of history—events, people, prophecies—all pointing toward the day that gap would finally be closed. And the thing is, only God could close it. Humanity couldn’t. God had to do it Himself… and He did.

So what Christmas really is—and why we celebrate it—connects right back to that Superman moment for me. It’s the moment Clark Kent steps into the phone booth. The music shifts. Everything changes. Good is about to overcome evil. The rescue is underway.

Christmas is God stepping into the world He created to close the gap between Himself and His beloved creation. It’s what people longed for and looked for over thousands of years, never imagining it would happen the way it did.

Christmas is the beginning of God’s rescue plan.

As I move into the days ahead, I can’t help but imagine what it must have been like for those shepherds out in the fields that night—when the sky suddenly filled with angels celebrating the arrival of the Savior. Each night, I’ll look up and remember… and be grateful… that God did what only He could do to remove the gap.

Happy Birthday Jesus…we’ve been waiting for you…

Merry Christmas.

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Thanksgiving…or more appropriately…Giving Thanks…


As I sit in this season of Thanksgiving, I find myself reflecting back on a recent post I wrote entitled “Gaps.” In that post, I shared about the spaces left in my life by the loss of people and pets who meant so much to me—those who shaped me, loved me, and influenced me in ways I’ll never forget. Those gaps are real, and they carry with them a weight of pain. Yet, as the holiday season approaches, I’ve realized something equally powerful: I am deeply grateful for the fact that those gaps exist at all. They are evidence of love, of connection, of lives intertwined with mine.


I’ve thought often about the people who stepped into my life and left such an impact. Their presence was a gift, and even though their absence hurts, I wouldn’t trade the gratitude I feel for having known them. Gratitude, I’ve learned, can live right alongside grief.


There’s a saying I’ve carried with me for years:

“What if you woke up one morning and only had those things you thanked God for yesterday?”

That thought always stops me in my tracks. It’s a reminder of how much we truly have, and how quickly we can overlook it until it’s gone. We are blessed beyond measure, and yet we forget.


This holiday season, my prayer is simple: that I remain in a constant state of gratitude—for what is, for what was, and for whatever comes. Gratitude doesn’t erase pain, but it transforms it. It reminds me that I am undeservingly blessed, and that every moment, every relationship, every gift is worth cherishing.


Thanksgiving is more than a noun. It’s more than a holiday. It’s a verb when lived out correctly. And that’s exactly what I plan to do—give thanks, not just in words, but in the way I live.

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Start…

There’s a phrase I’ve heard a thousand times: “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
And I get it—finishing matters. Finishing builds legacy. Finishing earns respect.

But here’s the part people forget:

If you don’t start… you can’t finish.

You can literally change the entire trajectory of your life with one simple decision—a start. A first step. A moment when faith rises just enough to push you forward. A moment where something inside you says, “Okay… let’s do this.”

We underestimate that moment.
We underestimate the power packed into a beginning.

Because starting is emotional.
Starting holds both excitement and anxiety.
Starting whispers possibilities while fear whispers what-ifs.

And yet… every meaningful thing in our lives—every breakthrough, every relationship, every change, every accomplishment—was born in that fragile little moment called start.

It’s why I love Mondays.
Most people dread them.
I welcome them.

Monday is a built-in reminder from God: Here’s a fresh start.
A reset.
A new mercy.
A clean page where nothing has been written yet.

Our lives are full of endless possibilities—but possibilities don’t become reality until we decide to move. At some point, we have to stop rehearsing the excuses, stop overthinking the risks, stop polishing the plans… and just start.

Start the habit.
Start the conversation.
Start the healing.
Start the business.
Start the apology.
Start the prayer.
Start the walk.
Start the change.

It doesn’t have to be pretty.
It doesn’t have to be perfect.
It just has to begin.

Because that first little step—the one nobody else notices—that’s the one that unlocks the finish line.

So today, whatever dream God has been whispering to your heart… whatever assignment you’ve been delaying… whatever change you know you need to make…

Start.

Your finish depends on it.

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Simplicity…

I love Chick-fil-A sandwiches… and I’m not alone.

For years now, the classic Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich has been America’s favorite. In fact, it has ranked #1 most beloved fast-food sandwich in survey after survey, year after year — even topping national polls for the past decade. Think about that. In a world overflowing with options, combinations, “secret menus,” and over-engineered creations, the simplest sandwich of them all consistently rises to the top.

A bun.
A piece of chicken.
And a pickle.

That’s it.

No elaborate toppings. No complicated sauces. No fourth-degree-of-heat spice scale. Just simple. Yet somehow, it tastes better than the sandwiches that try ten times harder.

The natural question is: why?

Most people say it’s the way the chicken is seasoned or the magic of the coating. Others swear it’s the pickle. But the real secret — the thing most people never even notice — has nothing to do with the sandwich at all.

It’s the package.

Yep. That little foil-lined pouch the sandwich sits in is the unsung hero. Chick-fil-A figured out that keeping heat and steam sealed in preserves every bit of flavor. Because of that foil lining, the sandwich tastes just as good 30 minutes after it’s cooked as it does the second it comes off the line. The secret of its success is where nobody is looking.

And you know… the same is true for us.

We spend so much time working on the part of ourselves the world sees — the “sandwich,” if you will. Our appearance. Our accomplishments. Our intelligence. Our polish. We keep working on the outside because that’s what the world reacts to. People respond to what they can see, so we keep presenting, shaping, editing, improving.

But what if the true secret to our lives — the flavor, the warmth, the impact — lives in a place no one else is looking?

I believe it’s in what we believe.

It’s in the internal “foil lining” of our lives:
How we see the world.
How we interpret people.
How we define ourselves.

Do I see good or evil around me?
Is the world for me or against me?
Am I a victim or a victor?

Nobody forces us to choose. Nobody demands that we believe one way or another. It’s 100% in our control — the one area no one else can touch. Yet it is the single most important thing we can do for ourselves, and maybe for the world around us.

We don’t always need to change the sandwich.
Most days, we just need a better package — one built from hope, perspective, gratitude, and truth.

Choose wisely.

And here you were thinking it was all about the chicken. 🍗

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Mile Marker 65…

I’m not sure how I feel about arriving here… It’s a milestone that was always coming…but for some reason…it always seems a long way off…but now it’s here. Now that I’ve arrived, should I celebrate it? Probably. Some of my friends never made it here, so yes, I should celebrate. But it doesn’t feel like a ‘whoo hoo’ celebration. Instead, it calls for a reflective acknowledgment of the journey ahead, which will be much different from the path that led me here.

It seems like the path forward will require me to carry a lighter load than before. I can no longer count on my physical stamina and strength to make up for my shortcomings. I need to be smarter, wiser, and more deliberate moving forward. I’ll need to carry a lighter load and make sure I’m more intentional about how I use my resources since they are fewer now.

This milestone is about taking off my backpack and sitting down for a moment. It’s about looking back on all the beauty that God has allowed me to experience. It’s about wondering how on earth I was blessed to have the life I have enjoyed thus far. It’s about thinking of all the people I’ve met and relationships I’ve had and appreciating all of the impact each and everyone of them have had on my life. It’s being thankful and grateful and just basking in those memories for a while and thanking God for His love of me and His grace.

It’s also about going through my backpack and removing those things I no longer need. Things that have weight to them I can no longer carry. Dreams, hopes and desires that I need to let go. Some of which include, hiking the entire length of the Appalachian Trail probably needs to go, owning a house on a lake probably won’t happen, having a single digit handicap in golf is probably gone for good as well and many others… Giving them up is difficult. The voice in my head is constantly asking me, “are you sure you want to let this one go? ” …and reluctantly the answer is yes.

As difficult as this is…it’s also a time to make sure the things I still have in my backpack will be utilized and needed for the remainder of my journey. They are items that may have only been sparingly used in the past, but will be significant to my success moving forward. Some of these areas include realizing the importance of relationships, taking care of my health, watching what I eat, growing deeper spiritually, being a good steward of my finances, shielding myself from negativity and others… The journey ahead will be challenging in new ways and I’m going to need new tools, skills and attitudes.

65 is a mile marker that I’m grateful to have achieved. I’ve been blessed beyond words. My life has been nothing like I had dreamed of yet remarkable beyond my imagination. It’s now time to move on… It’s time to get up, load my new backpack on to my sore shoulders and continue on an upward path.

I’m mindful of the new feel on my shoulders and while it’s not markably heavier, it is markably different. I’m going to need to slow my pace and at the same time be more mindful to enjoy the views. I’m above the treeline now and the view is nothing but mountaintops and clouds. Yet I’m also exposed to the elements and can no longer seek the protection from the trees. This is no time to be reckless if I plan on completing my journey successfully.

The great thing about hiking is you never really know what is around the bend, or what the view is going to look like once you reach the ridge. The view is always new and changing. The camera cannot capture its beauty, nor can you share the peace that is felt in the silence of your thoughts. The wind, the sun, the crunch of each step on the path is the soundtrack of the day. Yet one thing is certain…the path that I’m on is the one that was made just for me and for how ever long it continues…I know where I’ll end up…home.

Happy 65th to me…the journey continues…

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Heel…

One of my favorite new pastimes is walking our dog, Maggie. I get my exercise, she gets her exercise and we are both so much better for it. But we don’t just hook up the leash and go for it…as we have both learned from our obedience school lessons…there is a correct way to walk… and an incorrect way to walk.

The correct way to walk (to heel) keeps Maggie on a loose leash on my left side. She walks even with me and sometimes slightly behind. In this position, I am the leader and I can turn left or right or take an abrupt about-face and she can move with me with ease because she is close to me and can easily see me. Her being in this position is not restrictive to her either because I can also easily keep an eye on her and when she needs to sniff or “take a break” I can simply slow down or stop. I lead, she follows and we both enjoy our walk.

Conversely, the incorrect way for her to walk is ahead of me. As she moves ahead of me, she loses sight of me. Losing sight of me means that she becomes the leader and the decision maker and as I have learned about dogs…they don’t like to make decisions, they need a leader…it stresses them out if they feel they have to lead. So now we have a stressed-out Maggie out in front of me and “pulling” on the leash. (If dogs feel tension on the leash, they naturally feel the need to pull against it…I learned that in “doggie school” too.) So she’s stressed out and pulling against me and now when I want to turn left or right or around, the only way to do so makes me pull on her leash…which creates more stress…in her and in me. The walk becomes a struggle. The enjoyment is gone.

Despite the pulling, the stress, and the anxiety…she always feels the need to initially take the lead and to get out in front of me on our walks. So each time, I have to spend the first few minutes of our walk (and sometimes more…) “reminding her” to heel…and here’s how I do it…

When she takes off and begins to walk ahead, I can tell that she is no longer keeping tabs on me. She is lost in the new smells, the sights, and the countless other things competing for her attention. Once I see that she is no longer aware of my presence…I’ll simply stop walking abruptly and hold tight to the leash. The result is she quickly gets to the end of the leash and she suffers the shock of an immediate “correction”. Meaning…she gets the heck jerked out of herself.

The extent of the jerk is never my doing…it’s always based on the speed and momentum of her moving away from me. The quicker she leaves me…the stronger the impact of the jerk will be when she reaches the end of the leash.

Sometimes I’ll have to start and stop walking several times in a row and each time she’ll jerk, stop and look at me and then when we start walking again…she’ll take off and I’ll stop and she’ll jerk and we do it several times and then she finally catches on. She’ll take off and I’ll stop and she’ll take another step and realize I’ve stopped and then she’ll stop and look back at me until I start walking again. This is our “dance” over who will be the leader of the walk. We do it every night.

The best nights are when we both slowly walk out the front door and slowly turn down onto the sidewalk. One stop and she’s reminded and then she returns to my side (or slightly behind) and off we go. Loose leash, no anxiety, both of us enjoying the walk and each other’s company…

So why go into so much detail about walking a dog…?

Well, I think sometimes God must feel the same way about us. He knows where we should be in relation to Him. He knows that when we keep Him in our sights, our lives are better and we are happier and safer. In essence, he wants us to “heel”.

Yet, we don’t. Like Maggie, each day we take off with our own ideas, agendas, thoughts, beliefs, and needs and it’s not too long before we suffer for it. God simply stops walking and we get jerked by our own doings.

I’ve learned a lot about myself from Maggie. We are more alike than I care to admit. I love that dog with all of my heart and it breaks my heart to see her “corrected” each time we walk. But I just have to love her enough to let her experience the “correction” that she has created by leaving me.

So when I’m feeling stressed, anxious, or frustrated about something, I now think about Maggie and our walks and I ask myself…

“Am I heeling?”

Well, we both know the answer to that…

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Broken…

Finn was my constant companion when I hurt my ankle…

I’ll bet that anyone that has had a pet has been heartbroken at one time or another. I am living in that space right now.

Finn is 13 years old. Like many pets, certainly dogs, he is a perfect example of pure love, forgiveness, and being present. He never worries, holds grudges, or is in a bad mood. He has been an incredible friend and part of the family. As I write this, my eyes are filling with tears and the lump in my throat is making it difficult to swallow…because I know what is coming and it is breaking my heart.

Finn is suffering. He tries to hide it, but it’s getting the best of him. Not to get into specifics, my wife and I have come to the realization that we need to put an end to his suffering and allow ours to begin for a while… So tomorrow, we are going to have someone come to our house and have him put down.

….no words…

This morning coming to work, I was wrestling with that inevitable decision. I was praying as I drove to work and asking God to give me the strength to be able to go thru with it and then be able to comfort my wife for the difficult days to follow…then it hit me…

This is Easter week. Friday is Good Friday. If I am feeling this way knowing what I know I have to do tomorrow…I now know (in a very small way) how God must have felt knowing what He had to do…

It’s amazing how many Easters I have experienced and how often I have read about and meditated on what Jesus willingly did for us…but I never thought about the anguish of God and what He was going through knowing that He was the one that would end the life of the one he loved so dearly… I can’t imagine…but now I have a small sense of the pain that must have been caused.

God did what needed to be done…regardless of the pain that it caused him. He did it for love. Love for His son and an even greater love for us…His creation. God did it for love.

Now I must do the same.

Finn has brought me an incredible amount of joy and happiness. He is being called home to begin his “forever life” and I need to release him to go…regardless of the pain. I need to do it for love…too.

The tears…the lump in my throat that won’t go away reminds me of that love…the love I have given and the love I have received.

Easter will be different this year…and probably for years to come with the realization of what love really looks…and feels like…. It’s not always pleasant…

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Trust…

I’ve been thinking a lot about trust recently. What is it and why is it important? What are the effects of having it…and not having it? Whom do I trust and why?

It used to be that I trusted a lot of things and a lot of people.

  • I trusted the news.
  • I trusted our government.
  • I trusted my teachers.
  • I trusted my doctor.
  • I trusted what I was told.
  • I trusted the closest people in my life.
  • I trusted the decisions of those in charge.
  • I trusted those I loved.
  • I trusted that given a chance, people would do the right thing.

Lot’s has changed.

I’m not so sure anymore. The once long list of things I trusted and people I trusted has drastically be whittled down over time. Why is that? What changed?

Well, to begin with, the very essence of “trust” begins with the two letters securely placed within the word itself…” us“. To me, trust is a voluntary transaction between two parties. It is my relinquishing power, control, care, well-being, safety from myself to another entity. It’s my belief that there is a mutual concern about “us”, and that my well-being will be viewed just as important to them as their well-being.

As I said, a lot has changed…

What are the effects of this change?

Well, the world is certainly a more lonely place without trust. Living in a world where everything you see, hear and experience has to be scrutinized and researched certainly is an emotional grind. That once “voluntary transaction” has become something I consciously hold on to and protect as my life depends on it…and it very well might!

What is the solution?

I’ve always viewed trust in terms of an equation. It can be summed up like this: Consistent behavior/time. That’s it. When I observe someone’s consistent behavior over a long period of time, it helps me assess whether that person is someone I may want to trust or not. That might also explain why trust is in such short supply these days.

There has been such a dramatic shift in what we say we believe, who we believe and why we should believe it. We are changing our history, our culture, and our character at a record rate. What once was held as true and noble is now questioned and discouraged. Having a differing opinion from the masses now comes with punitive consequences. What was true 5 years ago is ridiculed today.

But there is an upside…

The upside for me is quite simply…my faith. These days… and the challenges that each day brings… makes me hold on to the only thing that has never once waivered, never once let me down, never once disappointed me, (and utilizing my equation)… has been incredibly consistent over time…all of time.

I have leaned on … and leaned into my faith in Christ more in the past few years than I ever have and each day I return to Him to check my thoughts, my beliefs, and my actions. It’s hard for me to think about having to go through this life…in these times without faith. It is truly the only place where I can fully and completely voluntarily give everything over to someone whom I know without a doubt will place my well-being equal to or greater than His own…because He’s already done it once…for all of us.

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Reset…

One day at work I was having a problem with my computer. The screen was blinking on and off and the entire thing seemed off. So I did what I do to so many other of my electronic devices…I powered it off and then turned it back on. After a few minutes of “it doing its thing”….all was well once again. Problem solved.

I thought about this one morning driving to work in the early morning hours, long before the sun would come up. It’s my favorite time of the day. The roadways are empty and the entire world is just…quiet. It’s wonderful. It’s this time of day that I believe I hear God more clearly than at any other time.

On this particular morning, all I could hear was one phrase, “Be still and know that I am God.” That’s it…but I heard it over and over and over again. All the way during my 30-minute drive into work, I just kept hearing and thinking about that phrase, “Be still and know that I am God.”

So when I got to work, made my coffee, and sat down at my desk, I began to realize all the “background thoughts” that I was carrying with me, so I started writing them down. Here is the list:

  1. Worry
  2. Fear
  3. Disappointment
  4. Judgment
  5. Loss
  6. Regret
  7. Things I need to do

Then I repeated the phrase, “Be still and know that I am God.”

What this statement I had been pondering all morning was asking me to do was to release these “background thoughts” that were cluttering up my mind. God was asking me to give all of that to Him and for me just to be still and enjoy His presence.

So at the moment…I did… and immediately, I felt better. I felt like I had just dropped a heavy load off my shoulders and I felt like I could breathe again, smile again, and see clearly again. God had asked me to power down and just do a reset. That way, all the things in this world that seek to weigh me down would be placed back where they should be…at His feet.

Now don’t get me wrong…I’m not naive enough to know that this feeling will be permanent…but it certainly did help me be reminded that sometimes, regardless of what may or may not be happening in life…a simple reset will ensure that all systems are working as they should be my operating system is in harmony with the one that made it.

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…Where do we go?

Last night at dinner, my wife was sharing with me her fears and struggles of weighing her love of teaching with the fears of contracting COVID-19. Should she continue teaching or should she quit? She recounted the list of all the recent people in the news that had passed away from the disease and projected the emotional impact it would take on her daughter and granddaughters in the event she contracted the disease and ultimately passed away! (Yes…that was our dinner conversation…) She was distraught and bound by the fear of the possibility of…regardless of its likelihood and ultimate effect.

My wife is not alone in her fears.

After listening to her talk and get increasingly “wound up”, I finally had to ask, “where’s your faith?”

Her response was, “I have faith, but I also want to be wise.” I agreed and asked her where she looked for that “wisdom.” She was quiet. I knew the answer…TV.

Today, I finished reading the entire Bible cover to cover for the 16th time. It’s been a daily practice and one of the reasons I get up at 3:45 am each working day and get to work…to spend time with God. It’s critical for me to start each day aligned and close to what I believe the will of God is for me in my life. I never want to start a day going in a direction God doesn’t want me to go. Reflecting on my conversation with my wife, I reminded of a couple of things:

  1. Fear and Faith cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Just like light and darkness. It must be one or the other…our choice.
  2. Nothing in this life is a surprise to God. He’s not going to say, “Oh crap, I didn’t see that coming!”
  3. He offers us His presence. Yet so many of us decline the offer…even believers!

I picture God is holding an umbrella and He invites us to come in out of the rain, come in out of the fear, come in out of the uncertainty, and to stand protected, dry, and safely close to Him. Yet, many choose to stay out in the rain and get wet.

Even when there is no storm, His umbrella offers protection from the heat of the sun and its long-term damage. When things are “going good” for us, when we are healthy, when we have enough money, when we apparently “don’t need Him” is really when we do! He offers us the umbrella that provides His wisdom, His grace, His forgiveness, and His peace…the things we all need to build as our foundation, but rarely reach out for it until there is a storm.

And I believe a storm is coming.

With all that is happening in our world, I honestly believe that we are in for some difficult days ahead.

Our world, our country our families, and our friends are on two distinct sides of the fence. We both believe we are right and we both believe the other side is bad or stupid. We are repeatedly being told what we are to believe and how we are to act. And we do…because we “trust” it is in our best interest…but what if it’s not? How would we know?

I don’t have the answers. But we know the one that does. Yet we rarely ask!

Back to my conversation last night with my wife. She was struggling with what she should do considering all her fears and what she had received from the news reports. So, I asked her, “what did God say you should do?” She was quiet. She hadn’t asked…

I pray that in the days to come…we all would change that. Ask! Each day! For what to do that day!

I shared with her that I only knew one thing. I knew that each day of my life I was going to make sure I began each day under what I believe was the will of God. I didn’t care what that looked like as long as it was what I believed was His will. Regardless of what happens or what is happening with me, to me, or around me…I was going to stay under that umbrella…and as close to the one holding it as possible.

You’ve been invited in to join me…come on in…there’s plenty of room.