,My father and I often talked about death.As a deacon, he visited the sick in hospitals, prayed with families, and sat with the grieving in their darkest moments. He taught me that,"Sometimes the greatest gift you can give the grieving is to simply b...

Dear ,The shame tells you it was your fault. The fear whispers you'll never be safe again. The isolation convinces you that no one could possibly understand.If those voices feel familiar, I want you to know: you are not alone.Maybe you’ve tried to pu...

Dear ,When I was doing my doctorate in Minnesota, I lived in a senior apartment complex. It wasn’t unusual for me to share meals with neighbors who had stories stretching back decades… and then wake up one day to find their apartment empty.Death wasn...

Aye yai yai ,"I don’t know what I’m doing wrong,” she told me, her voice shaking. “No matter what I say, no matter how careful I am, it’s never right. He tells me I’m worthless… that nobody else would ever love me. And I believe him.”I’ve heard this...

Dear ,Today I found an old picture of my younger brother and I. Here we are at the installation banquet for the president of the Institute of Engineers. This wasn't a picture that we posed for. It captures a moment frozen in time when I was so inord...

Hey ,Two weeks ago I wrote about restoration. Last week, about the architecture of resilience. This week, I'll share another truth bomb that landed as I was walking along the walls of this cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul in Paramaribo, Suriname. The...

Dear ,Six years ago, I lost my father to cancer. Lost is a relative term, though — I am still deeply connected to him. People still see me and see him. In the early days, they would falter when they looked at me, angry at the reminder of his absence,...

The Bench Beyond the FogShe walked until the air shifted.The path behind her had vanished, swallowed by mist. Trees stood like quiet sentinels, rising from damp earth, their bark slick with dew. The forest didn't startle her. It welcomed her without...

,Last week I told you about restoration. This week, I share another thought.Standing beneath those same towering arches, I understood something else entirely.How do you hold up something so impossibly tall with nothing but curves?Each arch rises like...

Dear ,When you registered for the Soul Story Retreat, you mentioned struggling with self-doubt and fear of failure. I want you to know that you’re not alone. You’re not too late. And you are not broken.Fear’s Favorite LiesFear is a master storyteller...