Last night, I couldn’t fall asleep. Maybe I had too much caffeine during the day – quite likely since I’m having to stay awake while grading AP essays all day in Louisville right now…about Middlemarch. Maybe I stayed up too late with my good friend Matt Logsdon, talking about culture wars, Brother Lawrence and the […]

Maybe you have read Blue Like Jazz.If you haven’t, make a point of doing so.Soon.Donald Miller’s honest approach to faith is so thoughtful and refreshing that his insight and voice will stick with you long after you finish.This weekend in Lexington, I was blessed with the opportunity to hear Mr. Miller speak in person. Unlike […]

I just spent a week grading Advanced Placement essays in Louisville, Kentucky. This explains the lower number of blog posts of late. It also marks the 5th summer I have had the privilege to do so, each of which has been filled with memorable insights from the younger generation. Unfortunately, I am prohibited from sharing […]

The sun rises every morning.  This might seem too obvious to mention, but have you ever stopped to ponder this miracle?  Each and every morning from the beginning of time until today, it has done the same thing.  No mistakes.  No absent-minded forgetfulness.  We don’t have to send a reminder, or a follow-up email.  It’s […]

My son Caleb collects goat skulls.  Not baseball cards, or stamps or bugs.  Goat skulls.  Of course, this kind of thing can only last as long as there are skulls to be found on our property – and already, the number of them that we bring home from our walks has reduced to a trickle.  […]

The heroes of the Bible did not know they would become heroes of the Bible. They had no clue that their personal stories would inspire billions, that nations down through the ages would be patterned on their words and deeds, that they would have their own Veggie Tales video. They walked wilderness paths that led […]

Kids don’t see adults the way we see ourselves.  This is a fundamental truth, and one that ‘grown-ups’ tend to ignore as inconvenient.Case in point:  this picture that my daughter drew of me.  I like to think I’m better looking than this.  Maybe it’s vain, but I imagine myself as ruggedly handsome, not elfish in […]

I’ve already said this once, but it bears repeating.  We are in over our heads…and I’m not just talking about those of us who happen to be in the boys ranch business.  If you are alive and breathing, you are in over your head also.I was recently reminded of this during a conversation with the […]

Around here, we have something called the “List of Lists.”  LOL for short…except there is very little laughable or loveable about it.Right now, we are in the process of figuring out what we don’t know.  Specifically, we don’t know what we don’t know.  Yes, that sounds like the title of a bad country song – […]

The last weekend of July, we had a good old fashioned barn-raising event at the Ranch.  Eight men and six boys from Forum Christian in Columbia, Missouri, swept, scraped, trimmed, weed-whacked, and power washed a goodly portion of the 11,000 square foot residence and accompanying acreage.  It needed a bit of TLC, and how better […]