Dear Trailhead family,  A few months ago, during the alarmingly complex and immensely rewarding process known as “getting the kids to bed,” my then 5-year-old daughter asked me, “How do you know that God is real?” If the night was typical, the questions leading up to this question, the question, would have revolved around such things as “Can I sleep in a different room tonight?”  “No. Not tonight.”  “Do I have to brush my teeth?”  “Only the ones you want to keep.”  “Do I have to wear pajamas to bed?”  “That’s up to you but what if there’s a fire?” (Just kidding ..read more

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Dear Trailhead family,  I have a special affinity for national parks. I am not sure when this fascination started but I think it has something to do with growing up in the midwest. Don’t get me wrong, we had our share of natural beauty. Just, our natural beauty was different from the kind where families from Maryland and Dallas would plan a 2-week summer vacation to come and see it. (We also had some of the most impressive summer storms that I have ever seen, but those are hard to plan a vacation around).  So I grew up loving our national parks.  So far I have visited twenty ..read more

Dear Trailhead family,   I was working in front of our church facility this past week on a morning that begged to be spent outdoors. You know the kind of morning: sunny, calm, and that perfect balance between warm and cool. The eastern sky still had color from the sunrise while in the west you could see dark hues where night was reluctantly releasing its grasp on the day.  Birds chirping, long shadows where dew clung to the grass, memories of Eden being awakened somewhere deep inside.  And a man yelling, almost screaming, at a passing car “Slow down you piece of s#%*!”  ..read more

Dear Trailhead family,  Here’s a question for you:  What if God loves us? I know, I know. The question doesn’t even make us think.  Most of us are so familiar with the concept that we don’t even have to consider it.  Maybe you, like me, grew up in Sunday School singing the lines,  “Jesus loves me this I know,  for the Bible tells me so.” Which is true. Jesus does love me and the Bible does tell me so.   And yet.  I’ve been married for almost 17 years (yes, our marriage will be old enough to vote next year!), and 17 years ago, Cassie and I wrote our ..read more

Dear Trailhead family,  First, Happy Independence Day!  Second, a few thoughts about the United States of America and our role as citizens of this nation.  I believe we are all very fortunate and blessed to live in this country.  While consuming the news, it is easy to become cynical, jaded, and angry with people, politicians, and the other party (no matter which party that is to you).  But when I spend time with my neighbors, those in my city, and with you, I find this nation to be made up of beautiful people. (And a few stinkers of course). My takeaway: we should ..read more

Dear Trailhead family,  What is church?  Have you ever asked yourself that question?  And if so, what was your answer?  Whether we have consciously asked this question or not, at some level, we have all answered for ourselves what we think the church should be. And not just the church, but what we want our church to be.  So what is church? To answer that, let’s go back to the beginning of this thing called church.  And by back, I mean roughly 2000 years back. To the original writing of the New Testament in a region and to a people who broadly spoke Greek.  ..read more

Dear Trailhead family, To my knowledge, I have never met a famous person. It's also true that a famous person has never met me. So I guess we’re even.  Anyhew.  If I did ever meet a famous person, I’m not sure that it would make a big impact on either of us. I don’t expect a brief encounter to lead to dinner plans, vacations together, or random Friday night hangouts. We probably wouldn’t even exchange numbers.  And I get it. Famous people deal with crowds regularly and I’m not in the category of close friend or family. No hard feelings on my part.  But I did come acros ..read more

Dear Trailhead family,  I work out every day and by every day, I mean maybe four times a week. Perhaps you can relate.  We all understand that exercising equals a higher quality of life. We know that we feel better after working out. And yet, I (maybe we) still only move at a level that constitutes “working out” a few times a week.  For me, I blame this on my ancestors.  The people I come from worked hard. Not “worked out” hard, but worked hard.  Farmers and meat cutters and the like.  And so I find myself the first generation in my family that needs to work ..read more

Dear Trailhead family,  If you grew up with one or more siblings, did your parent(s) have a favored child? I wish I could hear your responses. A few of you would honor tradition and say, “No! My parents loved us all equally.” And if I know you all, there will be one or two who would simply nod, affirming that yes, there was a favored one. And if the nod is accompanied by a smirk, rest assured that they are the favored one.  And before we judge too harshly at the perceived unfairness of a parent favoring one child more than the others, let us consider this: God also plays favorite ..read more