It’s not my birthday. Not even close. Yet last night when my friends took me out to dinner a scoop of ice cream arrived at the table with clapping and singing. During the early part of our meal my friend Faith left the table to go take care of something that got in her eye.…

Today your MoM is flying into Portland. Yes. With fires and protests and everything, I am purposely flying to Oregon. It’s not on a lark or a pleasure trip. This time we have a dear friend who is having surgery tomorrow so we are flying up to help with the family. We know that the…

I woke up to a sky filled with smoke today. It’s been like this in California for a couple of weeks now. Today, the smoke is blotting out the sun to a large extent. It feels a lot like an eclipse. But it’s Labor Day in America, and for me and my “son” that actually…

I have a friend who has spent the past ten years in prison. He only has thirteen more to go. If you got twenty three, your math is correct. Prison sentences are divided into two sections: the base term is served first, then all of the enhancements. Enhancements are additional time added for special circumstances…

Remember that playground wisdom that claimed “sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”? Yeah, that’s a load of garbage! Words are powerful. Words can uplift, but they can also destroy. We are emotional beings, so to claim that words won’t hurt us is just nonsense. As a writer and…

A lot of basketball fans are hoping for a return to the court. My friend J is not one of them. I’m sitting outside the courthouse now waiting for his court date. I met J through a friend. J had been over imbibing and caused a bit of a ruckus. It became obvious to J…

Last week I took a trip to the coast to speak on behalf of one of my CR Inside men. He has an opportunity to have his sentence reduced and had asked that I and a few other men speak on his behalf. It was my honor to do so. After we finished at the…

Life is a lot like a road trip: You’ve got the miles before you until they become the miles behind you. I’ve done my fair share of road trips this year. Who knew that a pandemic would provide the right avenue and backdrop for such exploits, but this year I’ve taken two major road trips…

Sometimes things change…no wait, things always change. If we can’t be ready to accept change, we need to be ready to accept frustration. At my church we are undergoing some change as we’ve recently offered our Sr. Pastor position to a new pastor. I have the honor of getting to fly out to Houston this…

Saturday was crazy. My soccer team won a HUGE match against a much better team which sent us to the FA Cup Final in a couple of weeks. I got a podcast recorded. Things were great, until they weren’t. I decided to follow my successes with some work in the newly redecorated office. We had…