Lessons from the Garden: Birds June 29, 2026   When I was in college, my grandma would send me letters that included pictures of birds from her back porch. An avid gardener herself, she eventually retired into dedicated bird watching when her body no longer allowed her to garden.   In her letters were honest-to-goodness developed-at-the-local-photo-lab pictures of birds. “Blue jay” would be written on the back or “Cardinal”. She was great about labeling pictures, although she did have a weird habit of circling people’s heads in pen when writing names on photos. So she wasn’t perfect.     I remember looking at those bird pictures and thinking, I would never waste film on a bird.   Because in the olden days when I was young — “when there were cowboys and Indians,” as my daughter used to say — we had to buy film and pay to get it developed.   Those bird pictures got a quick glance, a sweet thought toward my grandma, and then were ...READ POST

Lessons from the Garden: Little by Little June 22, 2026   I have an iron problem with my soil. It’s super annoying.   The leaves of my plants take on a neon-green, veiny quality that looks out of place.   The only solution is to amend my soil.   When I started gardening, I knew none of this, thankfully, or I think I would have abandoned the idea entirely. But I chose to buckle down, and now, years later, I can actually decipher what the three numbers on a bag of fertilizer mean: “10-10-10” or “8-3-5” now makes sense to me.   I have also learned what time of year to sow, what time of year to harvest, and what time of year to turn on my irrigation and watch my garden from the window, hoping for its survival through the hottest months. (I’m looking at you, August.)   The learning curve feels steep, but thankfully, I didn’t have to learn everything all at once to grow a petunia. In the ...READ POST

Lessons from the Garden: Faith Like A Seed June 15, 2026   Seeds are amazing.   I’m not a science girl. I’ve never pretended to like science, nor do I have a great deal of knowledge regarding the scientific makeup of seeds. But even with my limited understanding, I do know this: if I properly plant a seed, it will grow into something that looks nothing like the object I planted.   A seed has incredible potential for good or bad. But the seeds I intentionally plant usually contain the potential to grow into beautiful things.     Jesus specifically references a seed when explaining the power and potential of faith.   He references a very small seed: the mustard seed.   “You see this seed?” I can imagine Him saying. “This is all the faith I need from you.”   Even a tiny seed of faith contains incredible potential.     Throughout the years, whenever I thought about this analogy, I would get stuck on the practicality of walking out “mustard seed” faith.   I believed.   I stood strong.   And still, ...READ POST

Lessons from the Garden: Uprooting what Doesn’t Belong June 8, 2026   One of the hardest truths about gardening is that there is no magical cure for weeds.   The gardening world debates endlessly — landscaping fabric versus chemicals versus cardboard, pesticides versus organic solutions. But at the end of the day, weeds will continue to grow.   “A weed is just an undesired plant” is a romantic saying I sometimes hear while searching for better solutions. It sounds beautiful, but it is usually spoken by someone who doesn’t garden.   The truth is, weeds choke out what you are actually trying to grow. They take over space that was never meant for them.     Gardeners spend enormous time, energy, and resources trying to manage them. We’ve tried chemicals that harm the very ecosystem we’re trying to build. We’ve tried smothering with plastic cloth, only for weeds to eventually break through.   What I’ve settled on is the least glamorous but most sustainable method: hand pulling, soil cultivation, and mulch.   It takes time. ...READ POST

Lessons from the Garden: Making Peace with Imperfection June 1, 2026   What do you do when the thing you once loved begins to feel impossible to maintain?   For me, Lacey, my garden is too big for my current capacity. There are too many weeds, too many unfinished projects, too many ideas waiting to be brought to life. But the Texas heat is relentless, and my stamina is limited.     For a while, I thought about giving up completely. I wanted a perfect garden — every flower bed tidy, every angle beautiful, every weed under control. But no matter how hard I pushed myself, I couldn’t make it happen.   Eventually, I felt the Lord asking me a question: “Are you willing to make peace with an imperfect garden, or will you abandon it entirely because it cannot be perfect?”   That question exposed something deeper in me.   I realized I had spent much of my life believing my value came from striving harder, working longer, and pushing through my ...READ POST

Thank You for Praying for Our Family March 16, 2026 I wanted to personally say thank you for praying for our family during this incredibly difficult season.   Over the past couple of months, we’ve been walking through one of the most painful and unexpected chapters of our lives. In the middle of all of it, the encouragement, prayers, and kindness from people like you have meant more than I can really express. When something this personal comes into the light, it can feel very lonely.   Right now, our family is taking the time we need to process, grieve, and begin the long work of recovery, healing, and rebuilding trust. It’s not a quick or simple road, but I’m deeply grateful for the care that has been extended toward me, the counseling our girls have received, and the counseling and accountability Nathan has chosen. We’ve surrounded ourselves with people who love us and who are committed to helping our family move toward healing ...READ POST

Announcement & Prayer Request February 6, 2026There is no easy way to start this description. So I will get right into it. On January 16, 2026, it came to light that I had been engaging in inappropriate conversations with a woman and with chatbots through apps and texting, seeking and soliciting inappropriate images. Our daughters first discovered this, and in that moment, I did not tell them the truth. It was only after several hours of conversation between Lacey and me that the full extent of what had been happening came to light. This is in addition to something we shared with our board in the fall of 2025 — that I had returned to pornography for about 9 months after experiencing sixteen years of freedom. There is no excuse for the choices I made. They were sinful, manipulative, deceptive, and deeply hurtful to my wife and girls. Bringing this into the light is incredibly painful and embarrassing to my ...READ POST

What surfaced when the noise stopped? January 26, 2026 If you’re finishing this social media fast, the most important question isn’t “Did I make it 21 days?”   It’s “What surfaced when the noise stopped?”   For many of us, stepping away didn’t just remove scrolling — it revealed things that were already there. Emotions we’d been numbing. Thoughts we’d been ignoring. Longings we hadn’t even realized.   Social media didn’t create those things; it helped us avoid them. So let me ask a few honest questions — not for guilt, but for clarity. What showed up in the silence? Was it boredom? Anxiety? Loneliness? Relief? Creativity? A sense of loss? Those things matter. They tell you what social media has been managing for you.   Where did you feel the pull to be seen or affirmed? When the likes disappeared, did anything in you feel unsettled or unworthy? That doesn’t mean you’re shallow — it means you’re human. The question simply reveals where the affirmation of other humans has been taking precedence ...READ POST

Why giving up social media feels harder than it should! January 19, 2026 If you’re reading this and you’re in our third week (view previous emails by clicking here) of a January social media fast, I want to say this first: this isn’t about guilt or comparison. This fast isn’t a test — it’s an invitation to awareness, freedom, and rest.   Most of us don’t stay on social media because we love it. We stay because it meets very real emotional needs — and exposes some quiet fears we don’t always like to admit.   Here are a few of the real reasons stepping away feels so difficult.   First, we’re afraid of missing out. We want to be “in the know” — about news, trends, family updates, and cultural conversations. There’s an unspoken fear that if we log off, we’ll fall behind or be out of touch. But staying constantly informed doesn’t actually make us wiser; it usually just makes us more anxious. Scripture reminds us that wisdom ...READ POST

If not social media… then what? January 12, 2026 One of the biggest hesitations I had in leaving social media 5 years ago wasn’t about the scrolling — it was the relationships.   “How will I keep up with my friends and what they’re doing?”   “What about staying in touch with my family?”   “What if I miss something important? I don’t want to hurt their feelings by not knowing.”   These were real concerns.   For many of us, social media has become the default way to stay connected — especially with extended family, old friends, or people we don’t often see. For me, the choice to step back didn’t mean choosing isolation. It was an intentional choice to engage in more meaningful and healthier forms of relational connection.   In the years since saying goodbye to social media, these are some simple alternatives that have created more meaningful relationships, not fewer:   Call Someone. Yes, actually call. Believe me, it feels awkward at first because we’re out of practice, but hearing ...READ POST