I am a nobody. I have very few followers on social media and no one would recognize me in the streets. While I have written for some big-name publications, I’ve never won any awards or done anything that might make my name instantly recognizable to you or a publicist.

That said, there’s a solid chance I’ve interviewed someone that you’ve heard of, no matter your interests. For starters, I wrote a book featuring interviews with 12 College Football Hall of Fame coaches. Included in that list are icons of the college football world like Barry Switzer, Steve Spurrier, Tom Osborne, R.C. Slocum, Phil Fulmer, Vince Dooley, and more. …

As a country, we don’t need football.

We said we needed baseball, basketball, and hockey. But did the pandemic go away with their arrival? Has watching sterilized versions of each sport fixed the economy?

Of course, they have made us happier. They’ve taken up our time and given us something to talk about besides COVID-19. Except, if you follow the sports at all, COVID-19 is ever-present. From the suspensions for breaking protocol or leaving the bubble, to empty stands with cardboard cutouts, nothing feels normal. Sure, it’s better than those months where there were no sports. …

Climb to safety, you and me and the baby
Send our thoughts and prayers to loved ones on the ground
And as the days went by we just stopped looking down, down, down
The world’s on fire and we just climb higher
’Til we’re no longer bothered by the smoke and sound
Good people suffer and the heart gets tougher
Nothing given, nothing found

What’ve I done to help?

- “What’ve I Done to Help?” — Jason Isbell

The famous Mr. Rogers quote about his mother saying “look for the helpers” when something bad happens is often used in tragic circumstances. It’s a nice sentiment and it’s something to think about, especially when you are disconnected from an event. If a school shooting happens on the other side of the country, or a terrorist attack on the other side of the world, we can’t do anything about it so it’s good to find something positive to focus on. …

Laziness and cowardice are two of the greatest enemies of the spiritual life. And they are most dangerous of all when they mask as “discretion.” — “Thoughts in Solitude” Page 22

It’s no small irony that my post about laziness is a few days later than I wanted it to be. Paul calls himself the “chief of sinners” but I think I could oftentimes be considered the “chief of sluggards.” It’s not that I am the type of person to sit around on the couch all day watching Netflix, I love activity. But I am lazy in the sense that I will avoid doing the things that I am supposed to do at all costs. …

One of the greatest songwriters that has ever lived passed away this week after contracting COVID-19. John Prine penned classics like “Hello in There”, “Angel from Montgomery” and “Sam Stone.”

Maybe you’re not a music buff or not a big Americana fan and you aren’t familiar with Prine. Let me sum up his influence and talent this way, the single greatest songwriter of all time, Bob Dylan, revered Prine.

I’m far from Prine’s biggest fan, I can’t tell you about his deep tracks or the details of his long career in the music industry. There have been numerous incredible obituaries written about Prine from people far more qualified to do this than me. …

Read the first piece in this series based on passages from Thomas Merton’s Thoughts in Solitude here.

The pleasure of a good act is something to be remembered — not in order to feed our complacency but in order to remind us that virtuous actions are not only possible and valuable, but that they can become easier and more delightful and more fruitful than the acts of vice which oppose and frustrate them. — “Thoughts in Solitude” Page 21.

So often in Christian circles we can spend significant time talking about our issues, our sins, our struggles, our anxieties, our temptations, and other ways that Satan pulls us away from the Lord that we forget to celebrate the good things that the Lord has done in our lives. …

Thomas Merton was a Trappist Monk in the 20th Century whose autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain sparked a revolution that saw many young men in the late 1940s forsake their former lives to become monks themselves. He grew up in a very secular and worldly household, living all over the world before coming to faith in his early 20s. As a Trappist Monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani Monastery in Kentucky, he lived in almost total silence with the other Benedictine monks.

One of my favorite books of his is Thoughts in Solitude, a book of his writings and thoughts from his time spent in the silence of the monastery. These thoughts range from the deeply profound to the deeply confusing (at least to me). I have come back to this short book many many times over the years when I need some inspiration or when I need to just sit down and be still. …

And then this angel girl played

Death Cab, Radiohead, Leonard Cohen

And I wept silently

beneath my sunglasses

She smiled softly

as I wiped my tears

And we floated

across the sound

The rain lashed

and the waves crashed

And when we docked I left

a piece of me on that ship