[039] The Book Addict’s Guide to Peace
What happens when the mantra that powered your career—knowledge is power—becomes a compulsion in retirement? Surrounded by 24 shelves of books and a Kindle packed with 500 more, Max confronts an uncomfortable truth: his reading habit isn’t about learning anymore. It’s about avoiding obsolescence.
[038] When the Teacher Becomes the Student (Again)
I nearly fainted speaking to thirty people this week. Here’s what the Messenger’s Journey taught me about moving from self-consciousness to presence.
[037] Did I throw the baby Jesus out with the baptism water?
After dismantling my inherited beliefs, I discovered that “nothing” can be the black velvet that lets life’s diamond shine with unexpected brilliance.
[036] When I Lost My Beliefs, I Found My Faith
After decades of defending religious beliefs, a crisis forced me to question everything. What I discovered: faith and belief aren’t the same thing at all.
[035] Standing Outside the Window: When Spiritual Love Turns Hollow
In certain love stories, you lose the person emotionally before the breakup occurs. The same thing happened in my love affair with God—with devastating consequences.
[034] Finding God in forbidden love—then facing intervention
Falling in love with Mark didn’t turn me from God—it opened me to the divine. Then the church staged an intervention. Part 2 of Boy Meets God.
[033] Living the Questions: My Spiritual Story Begins
Are you religious?” It’s a question I hear often. My answer follows the arc of a romantic comedy—boy sees girl from a distance, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, reconciliation. Except in my story, it’s Boy Meets God. Here’s Act One.
[032] Ascend: Rising Above the Ugliness of Our Cultural Divide
My business partner and I were the dearest of friends—people compared us to Laurel and Hardy. Then we went from bosom buddies to barely speaking, casualties of the cultural divide. I deeply regret that we didn’t push through. Now I’m having weekly calls with another colleague I admire but profoundly disagree with. We’ve agreed to ascend above our ideological differences in honor of our humanity. It isn’t always easy, but it’s necessary. Here’s why our third act demands we rise above the ugliness—and how to begin.
[031] Agapé: The Crown Jewel of Thriving in Our Third Act
For most of my life, I thought love was something to find out there in the world—an elusive emotion I could control about as well as the weather. Later, as a follower of Jesus, I tried to build it like a muscle through sheer willpower. Neither approach worked. Then a friend said something that spun my head around: “Love is always present, but we rarely are.” As I put finishing touches on my book about hiding in plain sight, I’ve realized that shame has been the source of my impulse to hide. But here’s what I’ve discovered about agapé—divine, transcendent love—and why revealing it (not creating it) is the crown jewel of thriving in our third act. What hospice patients know that we need to learn now.
[030] I’ll never forget the night I tried to count the stars…
I’d never been so eager for the sun to set at Scout camp. That night, our astronomy instructor had us frame a piece of sky with our fingers and try to count the stars. As I stared, more and more came into view—too many to count in that tiny frame. Then he said: “There are billions of stars in that space if you had a powerful telescope.” It was a transcendent moment that’s sustained me for decades. Now in my third act, I understand why awe isn’t just a pleasant experience—it’s essential armor against cynicism, a bridge back to meaning, and a reminder of the incomprehensible privilege of being alive.