The good thing about social media, podcasts, and YouTube is that you realize you're not alone about a thoughtful idea. I mean that sincerely. I meet people in real life who say "No one speaks up about this!" And I'm like, "What? Tons of people say that."

New 1 hour lecture I recorded today: Nehemiah: Good Leadership in Response to Destruction youtu.be/z3FZIzrsbhE

Man shot by federal agent in south Minneapolis this morning, witnesses say

Local media here trying to get to the bottom of the same questions I was asking. youtu.be/vvmbiaBZ5_Y?...

Minneapolis city ranking of all U.S. cities: #2 happiest #2 biking #3 parks #6 fittest

A solid history of Minnesota here. "Trump’s Fight With Minnesota Is About More Than Immigration. The state embodies a civic ideal that the administration in Washington wants to discredit." Jan 16, 2026. By Charles Homans Free gift article: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/m...

Superb sophisticated moral reflection on AI drawing on the book of Genesis. "What Is The "Divine Image" in the Age of AI?" Rav Soloveitchik's Tale of Two Adams Second Voice and Zohar Atkins Dec 16, 2025 open.substack.com/pub/secondvo...

Neighbor families caring for a grieving family in 2025. Free to read. www.startribune.com/a-minneapoli...

Your must-read of the day (with tissues): In the months since Fletcher was fatally shot during at Annunciation Catholic School, the Merkels have clung to everyday relics of their second child’s brief, full life. Whatever they’re feeling, they’ve learned how large their village has become.

A pastor can't find younger leaders for the church board. I wondered about the culture. "My kids like Chipotle burritos, zero sugar A&W Root Beer and Cream Soda, Takis, Scandinavian Swimmers gummy candy, and brownies. Would your age 65+ board be open to meetings with those?"

Excellent tribute to Dan Treier

Fun defense here of audiobooks. Gift article: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...

“We’re not Jewish,” Brady said when I asked him about this. “But I think we’re into everything. . . . I don’t know what I believe. I think there’s a belief system, I’m just not sure what it is.” www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/m... January 2015. Gift article.

"Sacks established empathy as a quality every good doctor should possess, enshrining the ideal through his stories ... [But] His approach set the template for a branch of writing and thinking that made it seem as if the natural arc of illness involved insight and revelation."

"adult world-class performance is associated with limited discipline-specific practice, increased multidisciplinary practice, and gradual early progress." "Recent discoveries on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance" (18 Dec 2025). www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Proud to have learned from and admired Jeff Thorne since high school. Preparation, multiple sports, research, class, integrity, character, leadership. Always in the best sense, a captain. Here is a gift link to the Chicago Tribune article about him. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/11/f...

Kristin Lavransdatter novel trilogy resources in thread below. (I'm 1/3 in to it).

Finished "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" by Joan Didion (1968). Well-paced essays mostly based in California but also one about Las Vegas weddings, another about Hawaii, and the last one about being in your twenties in New York City. Recommended.

Incorrigible coach behavior at age 50: when my pickup basketball team loses or soccer team is down at halftime, I ask my teammates what adjustments we should consider making. They look at me like "Are you serious?" Yes, sadly, I am.

Dad with 15-year-old daughter activities: Planted 75 daffodil bulbs and 75 tulip bulbs, $30 total from Aldi). Used all our extra Christmas lights on a front tree she climbed. Rebound for her as she practices shooting 3's at park and YMCA. Ride as she gets driving hours in.

Here in Minnesota, high school kids can take college courses (PSEO) easily online or in person paid by the state. Undergrad students can take courses that contribute to shortening a master's degree. Everything is in a hurry.

So you can now click on a person's profile on X and then click on the "Joined [month year]" and it will tell you where the account is based. (In my brief exploration, it has been unremarkable because the people I follow and repost are who they say they are).

I played and my kids played high school baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, football, ultimate, cross country, and Nordic skiing. I'm just learning some people focus on hypertrophy (bigger muscles), body fat percentage, and body building. Those are rarely mentioned in sports.

One of our kids is an engineering major in college. What a great tradition in this field that most companies offer paid summer internships after junior year. Applying helps get students moving toward careers. BUT often you have to know someone inside to get past the AI filter.

Position Posting: Bethel Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota Program Director for Competency-Based Theological Education Program staffcareers-bethel.icims.com/jobs/2186/pr...

Taylor University Tenure Track in Christian Ministries www.schooljobs.com/careers/tayl...

My kids also feel sorry for kids whose parents force them to attend their siblings' sporting events. The siblings are bored. And the player doesn't care if their siblings attend or not. Youth sports take a lot of time. The siblings don't need to be subjected to it.

My teenagers see parents who have daily "family dinner" as a red flag. The parents don't attend their kids' school activities. They don't provide rides to and from school. The parents are rich. The kids are nice. The kids can't wait to leave home.

Finished "The Widening of God's Mercy: Sexuality Within the Biblical Story" by Christopher B. Hays and Richard B. Hays (Yale U. P.), Sept 2024. They rightly argue the trajectory of the Bible is to include outsiders. But despite the subtitle, they don't delve into sexuality.

"the first-ever empirical study of the American rabbinate across denominations, released this week by the Atra Center for Rabbinic Innovation." "58% identify as women, 30% as men, and 12% as nonbinary. An estimated 51% identify as LGBTQ." www.jta.org/2025/11/12/r...

Pope Leo XIV extols the value of movies. "Entering a cinema is like crossing a threshold. In the darkness and silence, vision becomes sharper, the heart opens up, and the mind becomes receptive to things not yet imagined." deadline.com/2025/11/pope...

I thought this 15-minute compilation of advice from people who are 100 years old was great. Lots of wisdom to ponder. youtu.be/QzQhtsTdHhM?... (May 2025 Business Insider)

A lot of good insights and wisdom from Gordo Byrn in this interview based on his experiences as a triathlete in his 30's and then pausing and then now again in his 50's about endurance fitness and a fulfilling life with family. alancouzens.substack.com/p/msmrl-6-go...

Finished "James" by Percival Everett (2024). It's a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim. I read it for my high school buddies book club. Wow. Memorable and powerful.

What Wendell Berry Taught Me Nick Offerman Mar 6, 2023 www.outsideonline.com/culture/essa... An article from 2.5 years ago but makes you want to read some Wendell Berry.

"Brené Brown on leadership, Trump, and the coward's path to power" with Kara Swisher. Oct 9, 2025. youtu.be/jn86FtQMWHQ?... The hero says "I'll do it myself." The victim says "People don't get how hard this is." The villain says, "I don't care if people hate us. We're doing it."

I am requiring: Death Comes for the Archbishop: A Classic Novel of New Mexico by Willa Cather Introduction by Richard W. Etulain 2024 and The Brothers Karamazov: A New Translation by Michael R. Katz by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Author), Michael R. Katz (Translator) 2024

I just noticed that Sister Jean like my Grandma died at age 106 in the month of October. From this two-person sample size, I think prayer, an engaged-mind, believing-the-best-about-people, and cheerfulness might be the key to 106. www.espn.com/mens-college..., www.knappjohnson.com/obituaries/V...

The lobby after church is busy because I have to greet new people then catch up with the football coach, the recovering addict forklift operator, the YouTube learner about AI, and the wise retired man who exercises, reads, and volunteers at a clothes closet for the poor. Like Bluesky!

As a professor or teacher or workshop or seminar leader, you will want listeners to apply the material to their own lives and have breakout groups to discuss this. But tell them they can disguise with pseudonyms and altered details and years and places what they share.

I wrote an updated guide on which AIs to use right now, & some tips on how to use them (and how to avoid falling into some common traps) A lot has changed since I last wrote a guide like this in the spring, and AI has gotten much more useful as a result. open.substack.com/pub/oneusefu...

Yes: "The chatbot should be a conduit for the information of the world, not an arbiter of truth...rather than act like an opinionated friend, AI would produce a map of the landscape of human knowledge and opinions for you to navigate." www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Daily prayer "a minimum of 30 minutes ... Besse’s timeline conforms more or less to other common recommendations in the manualist tradition, which suggest anywhere between 4-6 weeks for a dedicated person to transition from meditation to contemplation." open.substack.com/pub/simoneko...

My Two Windows on John MacArthur One near and the other at a distance. Matthew Raley Oct 19, 2025 open.substack.com/pub/matthewr...

We got a king bed because our queen mattress was 25 years old and lumpy. The good news is I slept way better. The bad news is when getting up I sprained my wrist bumping into the dresser because it's closer than I'm used to.

Both 10th grader and 12th grader said that kids yesterday were acting nice at high school. (Generally, there is so much toxicity and one-upmanship but maybe a month and a half in, kids are deciding to get along with each other and get to know the kids they are in class with).

Great story. A backyard batting cage produced lots of players in a neighborhood. The dad moved his garage to expand the cage. Now the next generation is using it. "We're not raising grass, we're raising kids." Video or transcript: www.kare11.com/article/news...

Ponderings on Trump's theology of heaven. At the end, they wonder whether Trump imagines working out a deal with God like working with other world leaders. youtu.be/FTqJmzYoNNQ?...

How to get started reading English literature. An introductory syllabus. Henry Oliver Mar 16, 2025 open.substack.com/pub/commonre...

"Andover Phillips Academy in suburban Boston ... In 2023, 9.2% identified as neither male nor female. This year, that number has crashed to just 3%. A similar story emerges at Brown University: 5% of students identified as non-binary in 2022 and 2023, but by 2025, 2.6%." unherd.com/newsroom/why...