Rudolf + Inception

My good friend Joe Jones is the master of seasonal comedy. Enjoy!

The Mentoring Project

"Whether we become merciful people or killers depends very much on who tells us what life is about.” -Nouwen

Some facts:

There are 30 MILLION fatherless children in America.

Children without a father are 20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders.

63% of youth who commit suicide grew up in fatherless homes.

71% of high school dropouts grew up in fatherless homes.

Same deal with 85% of youth who are incarcerated and 90% of youth who are homeless or run away from home.

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A desperate need exists in our own neighborhoods, on our own streets, in the apartment next door. Those facts above are true, but they don't tell the whole story. The Mentoring Project seeks to respond to the American crisis of fatherlessness by inspiring and equipping faith communities to mentor fatherless boys.

Watch as these lives show you the other side of the story:

The Mentoring Project - Rewriting the Story from The Mentoring Project on Vimeo.

Seth Godin notes: "Mentoring is rarely about the facts of the deal...but instead is a transfer of emotion and confidence."

This is a crisis that is solvable. Investing your life and your own story can rewrite the story of a young kid who otherwise would likely end up increasing the statistics listed above. You can transfer confidence. You can give emotion, and love. You can help one kid understand that he matters.

For me, it's really easy to get caught up in this "season of giving" by purchasing material items for family members out of some misguided sense of obligation. But I think we have some greater- some higher- obligations. Deuteronomy 10:18 says, "He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow."

I want to be a person who is constantly about the business of God. And I believe that the business of God is about redemption. I exist within a deep, unfathomable grace that I don't deserve. These fatherless kids, our neighbors, the teenager bagging my groceries so he and his mom can buy dinner-- these people need that grace.

Will you consider supporting this vision to change the face of America?

Learn more about The Mentoring Project on their website. Learn more about the fatherless crisis in TMP's President John Sowers' book, Fatherless Generation.

Happy Birthday, Scout!

Your darling mommy delivered you one year ago today.

We are so glad for your short existence on earth, for your life.

We celebrate you today, Scout my girl.

Happy Birthday, dear one.

*Read Scout's story, told by her mommy, Tara Beth Warrick, here.

Legacy & Tradition & Christmas

The holidays have definitely arrived—the lights are twinkling, the malls are bustling, and the nostalgic vibrato of Bing Crosby hangs constantly in the air. In my family, this season is one of tradition—driving up the mountain to pick out a Christmas tree, picking out new pajamas for Christmas Eve, giving new ornaments each Advent Sunday, and protesting my mom’s insistence that we smile politely for her Christmas card photo. (You can see how well that went last year… That’s right, parents—it actually doesn’t get easier as your kids get older.)


This year, I’ve thought a lot about how these traditions play into the bigger idea of creating a legacy. Seven years ago last Saturday, a woman I met on a handful of occasions saw the face of Jesus for the first time. At the end of a full life, what must that be like? I came to know this woman through one of her grandchildren—one of many who seek to advance the heritage she and her husband initiated. I remember his recognition of his grandmother’s spiritual gift to him, to his offspring. Even as a teenager, he felt her encouragement, her prayers, her legacy. I sat beside her in the kitchen once, and watched her love and life’s work manifest around her in the laughter and embrace of her growing progeny.

This woman’s life stood on the profound belief that as children of God, we have inherited God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

And so I wonder, in this season of life, how do I emulate my friend’s grandmother? How do I perpetuate the prayers of my own parents and their friends who have invested their legacy into my life? Are there traditions I can begin today that will lay the foundation for a family yet to come?

Who will you invest in this Christmas? What legacy will you give?

“O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.” Psalm 71:17-18

Friday Music.

LOVE this.