Shannon and I often listen to Classic American Top 40 with Casey Kasem. The shows are reruns of the popular weekly radio countdown show from the 70s and 80s. For me, the programs are time capsules of an entire swath of life. They are trips to specific places and moments in my childhood and youth.

AT40 with Casey Kasem was a main source for learning of new music as a child in the early 70s until I went to college in 1984. From my earliest memories of Terry Jacks with “Seasons in the Sun” and Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away” I would listen to the show on Sunday mornings before church and catch the end after, as long as J.D. Cooper’s sermon didn’t run over or a bunch of people were in line to get saved during the invitation. I listened anxiously to see where Paul McCartney, with and without Wings, would end up during the current week. Would The Knack get to the #1 song of the year spot with “My Sharona”?

AT40 was where my love of the Bee Gees was born. It is where I began to wonder why older KISS fans were so upset with what became one of the band’s biggest hits, “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”. I listened with glee as some of my favorite heavy metal bands like Quiet Riot, Scorpions, and Judas Priest made the countdown. I also learned a lot about the drastic nature of the music business as my beloved band The Knack dropped right out of the countdown after barely making it with the opening single from their second album, “Baby Talks Dirty”.

American Top 40 was not just a countdown show, it was religious canon for several generations, keeping them in touch with what mattered most: The music. Beaming to us through the antennas of countless radio towers throughout the world, we would learn about the lives of artists, information about music history, and stories of how the songs connected with everyday life.

Beginning in the late 70s, each episode of AT40 always had a Long Distance Dedication segment. Listeners would mostly write to Casey about relationship issues. The stories were purposely chosen to pull at heart strings. Some of them were real tear jerkers.

Popular LDD songs were “Three Times a Lady” by the Commodores, Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All”, and Joe Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful”. The first LDD came in 1978. A man requested Neil Diamond’s “Desiree” in dedication to his girlfriend who was moving to another country. I remember joking with my friends, threatening that I was going to send Casey a sappy love letter to a fictitious girl named Sharona, and dedicate “My Sharona” to her.

As usual for a Saturday morning, after our morning workouts and errands, I turned on Classic American Top 40 (available on iHeart) today. The timing was right, for we hit a mid-80s thriller from October 1985, one filled with MTV and Miami Vice era songs. It sent me straight to the beautiful Nashville autumn weather of my early college experience.

As I turned the shower off I caught the tail-end of the Long Distance Dedication. It was a young lady requesting Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” in dedication to her mother. The two were estranged from each other, and the daughter was trying to reconcile the relationship. The thing is, we never heard follow up stories to the dedications. I wonder what ever happened to that lady and her mom.

Earlier in this ‘Wilderness to Light’ series I wrote of the realities of how we experience different, separated paths from people as we move through life. Our widening differences enlarge the spaces between us for a variety of reasons. Whether from simple distance, family situations, priorities, or disagreements and anger. While some relationships may never be mended, we can hope. We do have the power within us to make an effort, to look in the mirror, to reach out. I do realize that there are times when resources of the soul can be exhausted, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less when relationships continue on in estrangement. It downright sucks to lose a friend.

Shannon and I have made an effort this year to stay in touch more with the people most important to us. It’s not something we talk about every day or have written on a vision board. That’s not how we operate. Yet, I see the progress and results in those efforts. In late July we are planning a trip to Nashville. The excuse to get there is anchored in seeing Liverpool Football Club play an exhibition, but the real reason is to see old friends. Even deeper than that, a huge part of that trip is for me to reckon with some of my past that I need to put my arms around.

I have work to do on myself regarding personal experiences throughout my time in that city. Much of what I have written about over the past 40 days is about those times and experiences. I know that the answers are not in staying away, but getting nearer to them, especially the people who I love dearly that I know there is no way I could be where I am today unless I had met them.

Today is the final day of ‘Wilderness to Light’. The final song I am adding to my playlist is The Call’s “I Still Believe”. It came out during my sophomore year of college in 1986. “I Still Believe” is the most popular song on the band’s album “Reconciled” and has been covered and recorded countless times by other artists. The song and album are hauntingly beautiful walks through the paths of darkness and light that lead us to redemption through reconciliation.

I count it a blessing that my strained relationships are few. Yet, those few weigh on me heavily, and I know that I can do better than I have with every single relationship.

I still believe and have faith that reconciliation will come even in the bleakest circumstances.

So, today I send out this long distance dedication: Wherever you are, whatever your circumstance, whatever the breach and chasms that keep you from people you love, may they be mended sooner than later, may joy come in the morning, may we all be reconciled.

Casey, will you play The Call’s “I Still Believe” for me and all the people who still have faith that we can overcome anything that stands against us?

If you have made it this far today, thank you! Thank you for taking the time to join me on my journey from wilderness to light. Much love. Happy Passover and Happy Easter!

My final playlist links are below.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

I can’t remember the first time I heard a preacher use the phrase, “It’s Friday, BUT, Sunday’s Coming!” I do know by the time I got to college, Christian performer Carman was making hay with that poignant anthem that exclaims even though they put him to death on Friday, it’s a guarantee he’s rising up on Sunday.

For my entire life Good Friday has represented a moment to reflect on the darkest hours of Jesus’s life, his crucifixion. Whether I was at a Southern Baptist, Nazarene, Methodist, Presbyterian, or non-denominational church, there was always unity on the idea that Jesus was killed and rose on the third day. It is the defining moment of Christianity.

Each decade has seen the dramatization of Easter events evolve to a point where passion plays became gorefests to convince people how bad God’s son took it for us. While the 70’s gave us the hippiefied “Jesus Christ Superstar”, the 80’s hit us square in the jaw with Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation Of Christ”. Not to be outdone, and mostly to set the story straight, “The Passion Of The Christ” came along in 2004. Mel Gibson directed it and just like the other films mentioned ‘Passion’ experienced the full spectrum of reactions from a huge box office take to vile pushback of an offended public.

All through those decades soundtracks of contemporary Christian artists blared their versions of Easter stories through speakers and amps, regardless of genre. I managed, promoted, and helped many of them tour. I played the songs on the radio. The most graphic were the heavy metal bands who had no problem with shock factor depictions of the crucifixion. There was even a popular Christian t-shirt that said “This blood’s for you” showing a bloody-faced and thorn-crowned image.

Outside of when I catch a late night showing of the Vatican services, I cannot tell you what Easter services look like in 2026. I certainly am not going to rely on social media to paint the picture for me. I can say that when I left the church over 15 years ago, the drama had played out. I couldn’t take any further renditions of the story, even if it came wrapped in one of those pretty cool soundtracks.

At those moments when I began walking a different path, I did not look at the spaces I was leaving in judgment. I simply knew there was another road I better start walking. There wasn’t a lightning bolt revelation, but there were signs. Signs that politics and separation were creeping into those institutions, and that as much as many of the folks within the church would say “All are welcome!” all were not welcome.

Nearly two decades later I do not look back at when I left institutionalized religion as a day of revolution. My time in church was not wasted, and I do not consider leaving as the abandonment of faith. If anything, the many roads I have traveled helped deepen my faith, even if I don’t fit a denominational business model. Even as the times have seemed to crank up the volume on the chaos dial, I have come face to face with people and situations that have challenged me to inspect and question everything I believe.

Today marks my 39th story in a project that started as an idea; an idea not to change the world, but to reflect on those paths I have walked. It has been personal therapy, which is a bit dangerous of a thing to express openly for others to read and be a part of. I am processing, and thankful that I have made it this far. I am also thankful for, and encouraged by, the people who have reached out and followed along. The kind words are confirmation to me that in spite of many, many differences most of us are seeking the same things: Peace, community, love, acceptance. People want to help and be a part of the solutions.

In spite of the massive flow of messages meant to tear us apart at every corner, in spite of times that seem dark, I am encouraged and believe that we may be seeing glimpses of light. Regardless of where you worship and how you view the holy stories from throughout time, I believe we can move forward in faith, hope, and love.

“Here Comes The Sun” is the 39th and second to the last song to be added to my playlist. George Harrison wrote it while visiting his friend Eric Clapton. I always have felt George Harrison to be the most spiritually in tune member of that old band from Liverpool. As with “Let It Be” from one of my earlier stories, I believe “Here Comes The Sun” to be one of the greatest songs ever. I wish it would have been in those hymn books when I did go to church.

Today is a reflective day for many around the globe. It comes at a moment when circumstances seem dire, yet, we can grab the light, and it may be as close as the person sitting next to you whether at church, the bar, or in the grocery store checkout lane.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. Much love to you.

Playlist links are below.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Joy has many meanings, some temporary and some much deeper. When we move toward the deeper meanings, joy is not something that can be whistled into action like a trained dog or an instant cure when something gets stuck in our craw. Joy is deep within us, a part of us. Yes, sometimes it’s hard to see, but my best bet is all of us have a birthright to joy. It does need to be cultivated.

Our Jewish friends are in the midst of Passover. Families are having Seder dinners and gathering daily through the holiday reflecting deep joy in hard-won freedom. Joy did not come easy. Joy runs deep and is a constant ebb and flow of one’s being. It is found even within hard times. There is a term for this: Simcha.

In Islam, the term for a joy found in the tranquility of one’s heart is Suroor. During Ramadan, Suroor is central, cultivated throughout the holy month during fasting and the breaking of fasts.

Perhaps my favorite religion due to its staunch beauty, Hinduism, claims joy as what I mentioned earlier: Our birthright. It is the things of this world, distractions, the extremities of our days, that can make joy hard to experience. Yet, processes of cultivation through selfless acts, study, and devotion help rip away the barriers to self-realization. Ananda is the word Hindus use for this.

I learned about the practice of Mudita from Buddhist monk Pema Chodron. Buddhists build joy through meditation. It is a process to help deal with our ego through visualizing a person, perhaps someone who we consider joyful, and being happy for them. From there, we extend that circle to others, even to the point of being happy for enemies.

For Christians, joy is recognized as fruit of the spirit. It is something you stay or abide in. Much like Mudita, it grows as a person stays connected to faith. A word I had never heard in a service or song during my time in church, Chara, describes this Christian joy. I am glad I ran across it, even if years later and on another path.

While I don’t do justice to these terms for joy in our world’s great faiths, I do see a coalescing of how the deep waters of joy flow freely over the borders of religion. It’s powerful.

Today, on day 38 of my wilderness to light journey, with only two more stories to go and in the homestretch of the holiest periods of the year for so many faiths, I find myself meditating on that power of our combined joy.

I have written about our distractions, the fringes who want to keep us from joy. I have grappled with the realities that a shaky world can be hard to navigate. We are pummeled by messages of how if we will just come together to defeat enemies everything will be alright. If we drop enough bombs, all will be well. That’s not joy.

I tend to think there is a better coalition, a better war to wage, one that isn’t led by dullards and opportunists. I tend to believe in a coalition of joy. I will never question a person’s path to joy, for when I look at the different people in my world from so many different paths, I see that we all possess the power of joy. It is in combination with each other, in recognizing that we are all in the same boat that we can tap into the power of universal joy.

Today I add RAYE’s “Joy.” to my soon to be complete 40-day playlist. “Joy.” is the second song of the same title in the playlist, but with a twist. Earlier I added Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds “Joy”. But, that song doesn’t have a period in the title.

Nick’s song comes from a different place. All songs about joy do. You see, all our experiences are different, but we can understand and empathize with someone else’s heartache and pain.

“Joy.” (RAYE’s version) is a declaration. She is not simply calling upon joy to fix a problem, she is calling on her very nature to overcome the temporary pain we all experience. The chorus is the famous King David Psalm. I hope we all find the joy that exists in each of us. The world could use it now, all of it.

And remember, if the Devil doesn’t like it he can sit on a tack!

Thanks for reading. Playlist links are below. In the final two days we will see the Sun shine brightly at the end of the tunnel. I can’t wait to share what’s next.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Upon arriving home late afternoon yesterday, while heading to the water spigot to fill the outdoor cat’s water bowl, something caught my eye. As I bent my neck back to look up what had to be at least 30 feet into the neighbor’s pine tree closest to our house, there was a cat. A black and white cat I had never seen before perched peacefully on a stub from a long gone limb staring down at me.

My first instinct was to rescue it. So much so that I got out our ladder and had it extended to ridiculous lengths that there would be no way I could command on my own. I had a cat crate out, a towel in case I could grab it, a can of Fancy Feast. I sent texts to my friends. I also named the cat: Brisco.

Shannon pulled up from the final physical therapy session of her recent hip surgery. She has flown through that therapy and passed with an ‘all systems go’ and A+++. Shannon is more pragmatic than I. After a kind attempt to help with my ladder shenanigans, she assured me that the cat would probably come down on their own.

I worried. I even had a dream that it wasn’t just Brisco in the tree, but five other cats as well. I wanted to get them all.

Brisco did come down on their own at some point when the Alabama sunset bid adieu to March and the stars greeted April. At an unknown time Brisco found a way back to solid ground to that can of Fancy Feast. I hope we see Brisco again soon, but maybe closer to the ground.

So much of life can be spent feeling like we are up in a tree, caught, paralyzed with vertigo caused by threatening heights with no escape. It is easy for me to spiral when I fixate on any number of societal rollercoasters invading our lives at any given moment. It can feel absolutely numbing.

We want to be rescued. We want an answer that gives us a rope, a lifeline, a ladder to help us climb down to safety.

Maybe we aren’t caught at all and we have everything we need to simply climb down on our own.

There’s an old story about a man taking a rest on a boat while his crew navigates. They run into a bit of a spot as a storm stirs up and the crew starts freaking out. In a panic, they wake Jesus up and he is none too happy. He asks, “Why are you so afraid?”; you see, Jesus was at peace, even within the storm. Frustrated, while the storm billows roll, he turns and quiets the storm.

When I read this story I don’t see nature as the issue, or the miracle that Jesus made the storm go away. I sense the disappointment Jesus had because he trusted his crew and knew they had all the equipment and talent needed to navigate through the angry waters. So much so that he was sleeping away. They could have simply climbed down the tree on their own.

How many situations are we equipped to handle, by ourselves, as a crew, or even as a society, where if we could just wait for the noise to come down and the chaos to quit beating at our hearts and souls, we would find ourselves able to find solid ground?

I have written many paragraphs about the stifling winds and chaos of the extremities in our society. I believe that we are pummeled by sides that would rather beat us down with opinions, anger, stances, than sit and wait for a break in the noise and have a real conversation with real people.

But that takes patience. Much like that old pine tree that Brisco somehow took a trip up, it took a seed in ground.

Do we have the patience, the mettle, the pragmatism, to put the necessary seeds in ground and do what it takes to help love grow? Frankly, I am skeptical, but have not given up hope. As much as I can jump ship quickly and cry for rescue, I still believe that we can make it to a better day as families, friends, and the entire human race.

Tears for Fears had something to say about this subject. They put their message into the ground in 1989 with the album “The Seeds Of Love”. The lead single, “Sowing The Seeds Of Love” was a call shot from the cannon of hope across all oceans intended for every heart. 37 years later, the reach and impact of ‘Seeds Of Love’ is higher than any Alabama Pine.

“Sowing The Seeds Of Love” is appropriately the 37th song of my 40 day playlist. It never gets old and always hits home.

Enjoy this, and all the songs. Playlist links are below. If you feel like you are up a tree with nowhere to go, take a few breaths. It could be that you have what is needed to get down right within yourself. Know that you are loved beyond anything imaginable, and that is a miracle we can all count on. You have purpose, and we all need you.

Plus, I may need you at some point to help me get down the tree I scurried up.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Each year near our wedding anniversary in early June, Shannon and I take off to the beach for a week. In 2024 we arrived at our typical landing place in Panama City Beach, Florida to the news of a shark attack not far from where we were staying. These aren’t funny situations out of a cartoon, it is a reality of sharing space with an apex predator species.

Lulu Gribbin was the young teenager attacked by a bull shark that day. She is from Birmingham. Yesterday, she spoke at a private event Shannon invited me to. While I didn’t hear her speak, Shannon did. From what was described to me I’m not so sure there was a dry eye in the room. I did get to see her for a brief moment. The presence of the 17 year old who lost her left forearm and part of her right leg was an instant shining light of not just survival, but thriving. The story is also a bright example of how people jump into action regardless of danger or who the person is in need.

I pulled up a few interviews of Lulu, particularly one with Tameron Hall. Lulu’s story is one of calm within crisis and chaos, and thinking of others before herself. Even though she would pay a high price that day, she has come out the situation in a manner that all of us can look to for inspiration.

Lulu Gribbin is a junior in high school. She golfs, runs, and goes water skiing. More importantly her family has the Lulu Strong Foundation to help advance technology and availability of life-changing equipment and services for amputees. The Gribbin family brings dignity and hope to those who may not have it. You can find out more here: Lulu Strong Foundation

There was another fellow I did get to hear speak yesterday, former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. While most of his talk centered on the premises of his recent book “Look Again: Recognize Your Worth. Renew Your Hope. Run with Confidence”, there were a few things that struck me through the heart.

He spoke about vision and purpose, and doing things that mattered. While most people know Tim as a football player and judge him as such, more humans are feeling the impact of his work with the Tim Tebow Foundation. He may have had a short NFL career, but he is having huge impacts in the real field, the field of humanity, by providing orphan care and medical help to those with profound needs. They work extensively fighting against human trafficking and child exploitation. TTF helps vulnerable people. During his talk he said that it is this work that matters to him. TTF’s mission statement: “To bring Faith, Hope, and Love to those needing a brighter day in the their darkest hour of need.”

During a Q&A session after his talk, Tim spoke about the need for respect of one another. Of course, his experiences were grown through his years having to work together with his football teammates. Yet, it was through those experiences he learned that being able to respect people regardless of religion, politics, or race is necessary to move forward in one’s vision and purpose. We cannot go alone in this big world.

Throughout my 40 days of writing these stories, I have thought much about the dichotomies in our American culture. How so much bad can be happening whether it is homelessness, poverty, educational disparities; the list can go on and on. Yet, right within it, we are considered to be one of the most prosperous countries; a place where ‘freedom’ can be found. We are the rescuers, while also being the bombers. These are stark contrasts, and they are not new.

I’m not so sure that the words of Lulu and Tim shocked me into some sort of new level of action, but through these weeks I have begun asking myself, “What the hell am I doing?” I see people protesting, singing songs, arguing, posting; but, who is doing the heavy lifting? Who is making a difference?

Time and time again, it comes back to those in the trenches, who even with grand popularity or humble enlistment by nothing they wanted, are taking one step at a time to do something that helps people.

I don’t have the answers, but I wonder what I would do when the shark comes calling.

Today I add “In God’s Country” from U2’s “The Joshua Tree”. Bono painted a vivid picture of those stark American contrasts. That was nearly 40 years ago, and they still stick. Bono says, “I stand with the sons of Cain, burned by the fire of love.” I have to believe he is talking about the disenfranchised, the ones who need a hand, perhaps near their end. “In God’s Country” is a cry that within all these contrasts love can rise and be the medicine to wake us up, get us into action, and move forward with purpose.

Thanks for reading. Much love and peace as we all head down our roads. May we all find ways we can help make the world a better place; that world being the people right around us.

The playlist links are below.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Hope is not a strategy. I heard that today as I have many times over the decades. Within the context of the talk I was privileged to see, the famous phrase resonates. You can’t just hope for success and accomplishment. There must be vision, passion, and purpose. I am not going to shoot holes in the idea of hope not being a strategy in our plans throughout life. I know all too well the results that come without vision, and I don’t wish that on anyone. Some people are at a point where those broader visions aren’t an option.

Hope is a main ingredient in our ability to see a bigger picture for humanity, hope that we can get better as a people and do more for the disenfranchised, those at the end of their rope. Hope is not without purpose, but a part of the engine that drives purpose. For, without hope, all can quickly get lost. It is hard to have a vision of anything if your hope is lost and you can’t even open your eyes. And, right now, there are alot of folks alone in the dark. They need you, me, all of us.

These past weeks have been a spiritual apex for the world. Ramadan has ended, Passover begins in a few days, and Holy Week has begun. It is so easy to be distracted from these important representations of faith. The world headlines are doing anything but pointing toward light and reconiliation of cultures and humanity.

Yet, I guarantee that wherever you stand today, someone could use that passion you have in your life to help them find a spark of hope. We just don’t know what the other person is going through. As I write these words, I am tired and spent, but I keep coming back to this: Let’s show up for each other. Let’s be our real selves, you know the people that aren’t avatars, social media versions of ourselves.

South West London Community Leader Kofi-William Osafo is featured during a spoken word segment on RAYE’s new song, “Life Boat.” The song is about hope. Osafo speaks of the rejection and disappointment we all experience. Yet, he is appealing to those whose darkness may be a bit unrelatable to many; the kind that makes some not able to see at all.

Though we all may not be at the end of the line, we can have compassion for those who are. Maybe in opening ourselves up to that we can see a need and maybe provide a bit of light.

“Life Boat.” has been added to my growing playlist as the 35th song. My HOPE is that you might find some light within it.

Thank you so much for reading. I can’t wait to share what’s next, tomorrow.

The playlist links are below.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

We let each other down. We fail individually, with our partners, friends, family, and communities. It isn’t a question of if we will fail someone, it is when. Further, is the damage done by our failures reparable? Thankfully, and hopefully, because of love, grace, forgiveness, and simple common sense, we can repair many of our failures. However, that requires the willingness and ability to admit our failures and face them. I am not naive to the fact that some failures will end relationships and that many of our cultural and civic failures seem irreparable at this moment. We are learning hard, hard lessons right now, and I hope people wake up before it’s too late. Me included.

Last night, or late afternoon as some would assign to Shannon’s and my ‘early bird’ approach to dining out, we visited our favorite Indian restaurant, Taj India. As our Naan, Korma and Tikka Masala were ordered and on the way, I happily swilled down my first Kingfisher beer as we gave a big ‘Cheers!’ to the weekend. I made a comment that in spite of the absolute insanity and hopelessness that shoots at us from every angle possible, hope was on the verge of making a mighty comeback.

Shannon was quick to point out a time not so long ago when hope arose. It was the key theme of an entire movement. That was 2008. Fast forward nearly two decades later and the entire situation seems a bit in shambles as darkness has fought heavily to douse the hope and keep it for only a few that seem to fit a specific mold. Yet, I am skeptical.

While the metaphors about changing seasons are getting a little tired to me, it is undeniable to me that lasers of hope are shooting through those shambles. Maybe its because I am not doom scrolling as much through terabytes of social media feeding my soul the extremities of darkness. Perhaps I am leaning less on putting up a fight for an extreme side that pushes things further and further apart to the point where we are all teetering on the edge of a bottomless pit.

I would rather have a meaningful conversation with one person than a thousand likes on a post that if challenged on I couldn’t even explain. After nearly two decades of fighting with the social media bullshit I just want to take my gloves off. I’ve given the punches and taken them and none of it has led to any benefit. It seems hypocritical to write these words knowing that the distribution of them is happening on social media.

As we move into Palm Sunday, a day that has represented a sort of angst between peace and dread throughout my life, I feel a bit more light in the direction I am walking; even in the face of dark times. Why? I believe in hope.

Hope is not a political platform. It is a necessary need along the way in life, for after thousands upon thousands of years no society has been exempt from the problems of warring darkness. It is hope that allows us to look at a neighbor, a stranger, a friend, and say, “I am with you, no matter what.”

Today I add Vance Joy’s “Solid Ground” to my growing playlist. Vance Joy holds a special place in Shannon’s and my relationship. His music has been a part of our soundtrack. “Solid Ground” was released in 2022 as a part of his “In Our Own Sweet Time Album” which came out when the world was thawing out from COVID and when all of us were trying to find a way back to a place of hope and caring. I’m not sure we’ve found it back fully, but I believe we are going to get there.

I wish everyone a good weekend. Many need healing. Many need grace. Many people need a friend. As much of the world looks toward resurrection, don’t forget that many are looking for a reason just to breathe. Look everyone you know in the eye and give them a big soul hug. Be the solid ground for anyone possible in a world that nothing is solid. We all need it. We need you.

Thank you so much for reading. I hope you can join me on Monday as we hit the homestretch on the path of wilderness to light.

The playlist links are below.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Serendipity, coincidence, providence. Whatever one prefers to call it, the ‘out of the blue’ incidences that appear at times in our lives seem miraculous. I had one of those ‘Wait a minute!’ moments this morning.

English artist RAYE’s new album came out today. After a few minutes of meditation this morning I quickly dialed it up on my phone and began listening. I laid in bed with tears flowing from my MUSICOZY sleep mask headphones as the music unfolded into a work that was highly underestimated by my expectations. I have anticipated this new music for months, evangelizing it before its arrival as one of the most exciting releases of 2026. Little did I know that this album would be THE jaw dropping hymnal our society needs right at this very moment. Her record is called, “This Music May Contain Hope”, and my hope is that everyone gets to listen to it. BUT, that’s not the story, there’s more.

With morning tea in hand and settling into my home office for a day’s work, I turned on Nashville’s WNXP-FM radio like I typically do. As I typed and clicked away at things that go into the ether of the advertising world, WNXP morning host Celia started talking about RAYE and played one of her new songs.

WNXP is in the midst of a fund raising drive. I had not renewed as a member over the past year. No reason, I just hadn’t. When I heard RAYE being played and spoken of, it sparked me to go online and join again. BUT, that’s not the story, there’s more.

As I was typing in my information on the membership site, I heard my voice come out of the radio. “This is Scott from Birmingham.” A few years ago when I first sent in a donation to WNXP they asked for recorded testimonies. I made one. And, they played it today.

That’s the story. Coincidence? I am skeptical.

We are nearing Easter. This Sunday represents Palm Sunday in Christian legend, the moment when Jesus rode into Jerusalem and people waved palm branches during the triumphal entry. He would spend several days as part of the public spectacle surrounding him. The masses were not aligned; some reviled the man, others were just there to see a celebrity. Others cried “Messiah” for they had been witness to his stories and miracles. Legions were disappointed, for the warrior lord they expected rode in on the back of a donkey, not a chariot with flaming spears in hand. After his ride into town Jesus would upend tables in the temple and decry the money changers. He would teach and engage religious leaders. He spent time at the local pubs encouraging people and giving out alot of hugs. (I added that one to the story.)

Prior to the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, biblical legend tells a story of Jesus climbing up the Mount Of Olives where he prayed and grieved for the city and its people. He grieved because many did not recognize him or his message. Nor did it sink in with them that his purpose was not to wage phyiscal war against Rome, but to wage a war of peace by helping people move to a better place through compassion and mercy, the ways of a higher power that would lead to joy and help make sense out of a confusing world.

It makes me sad to read the words of some folks who I once revered as spiritual giants. There was a time when I would automatically get behind anything associated with Billy Graham, just because that brand was so respected and I did not doubt what it stood for. Through the years that loyalty has faded away as my path has moved away from militaristic Christianity. Now, I hear Franklin Graham, and I wonder if he would have been disappointed when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem. I wonder if he would have even tried to talk to Jesus at all. I see social media posts from political leaders cloaked in battle attire claiming we are in a ‘holy war’, or hear prayers from military leaders that cry for the death of enemies. I wonder if these people would have been disappointed on that very first Palm Sunday.

I also wonder where I would have been and what I would have been thinking. Maybe I would have been sitting on a curb and smoking a Viceroy, waiting for the band to play.

No matter where our spiritual feet land with the mythologies, we have plenty of opportunity to apply the principles of them in our lives today. We act on those principles and it is played out for all to see. Some want that warrior lord to march us into Zion, and will sleep with the enemy to make it happen. Others just want to see what all the hubub is about and are content with whatever the result may be. And many will cry Kyrie, eleison: Lord, have mercy.

I wish I had more answers, but the more I walk through the crags, valleys, the mountains, the more I know that I would rather be caught on the side of those crying out for mercy. There are too many miracles in life for me to believe our purpose is to burn it all down with some image of a warrior lord surrounded by a bunch of blood lusting minions. Even if those folks are right, I’m not sure living in the after life with them would be that great. I’ll take my chances with the mercy team.

Today I add “Kyrie”, the 1985 #1 hit by Mr. Mister to my growing playlist. It is from an album entitled, “Welcome to the Real World”.

In the real world we have a choice as to who and what we will embrace, support, and follow. We choose how we treat our friends and neighbors. We have a choice to embrace grace, mercy, and peace. We have a choice to not involve ourselves with anything or anyone. We have a choice to want war no matter the cost. I hope we all choose wisely.

Much love and peace to all of you. I hope you can join me for story and song #34 tomorrow on my path from wilderness to light. Thank you so much for reading.

The playlist links are below.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Most days I awaken to a short meditation led by Jay Shetty on the Calm app. Jay is a teacher, speaker, author, and podcast host. Like Pema Chodron, who I wrote about yesterday, Jay is a former Buddhist monk. While I can’t assign carte blanche universal divine activity to guiding all things, I also can’t chalk everything up to coincidence.

When I clicked on this morning’s “Daily Jay” I was ecstatic to hear him talk about “No mud, no lotus.” Yet a third Buddhist monk had arrived on my spiritual doorstep within a 24 hour period: Thich Nhat Hanh. Coincidence? Maybe. But, I am skeptical.

Thich Nhat Hanh was a prolific Vietnamese author, poet, teacher, and monk who died at age 95 several years ago. I have read many of his books including 2014’s “No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering”. In the writings, which have become classic modern Buddhist teaching in just a decade, Hanh uses a powerful metaphor to describe how suffering is not something to be eradicated in order to find happiness, but part of the very nature of things needed to grow. That metaphor is the lotus, which pops beautifully out of the water but couldn’t exist without the mud it is tied to beneath, out of sight.

Chodron, Shetty, and Hanh all dive deeply into the idea that discomfort is a part of the plan, a part of growth. This isn’t some sort of “No pain, no gain” quackery from that guy at the local gym who wants you to run down the street pushing a big tractor tire so you can get in shape and drink low calorie beer while impressing your friends.

No, this is a direct shot at the heart of our western civilization spiritual complexes that have taught us that if we only join the movement all our problems will disappear. If we get on board with the one true way, then all our sins will go away. But, we all know that’s not how it works.

Discomfort, pain, and suffering are a part of the process along the path of growth. Growth, happiness, and joy are not mutually exclusive from suffering.

I am not tone deaf to the fact that millions of people find this type of growth within a variety of environments, including mainline evangelical churches. I am not advocating that anyone necessarily become a Buddhist. I am not a Buddhist. What I am advocating for is what works for me and simply sharing that story.

Perhaps the most poignant story about how suffering is a part of the process flows heavily during this time of year in the legends of Jesus. Nothing Jesus did throughout his life was by coincidence. Whether in the Garden of Gethsemane in anguish to the point of sweating blood, during the betrayal of a friend, legal problems played out in front of the public, or the ultimate pain of carrying the very cross he would be executed on, Jesus knew that all of that mud was necessary in order to see the lotus bloom.

I wish I would have jumped on the train of “no mud, no lotus” earlier in life. I could have saved myself much suffering. But, as I sit here in 2026, I know it showed up right on time. While I certainly have my moments of judgement, anger, worry, and disappointment, I find life a little easier to traverse these days when I lean into the idea that hard things are a part of the way. It’s not that the difficulties go away, but recognizing them in the proper place allows me to move on in a manner that actually does seem like a brighter path.

Today I add Chicago’s 1974 song “(I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long” to my 40-day playlist. James Pankow, Chicago’s longtime trombonist wrote the song as part of the “Chicago VII” album. ‘Searchin’ So Long’ is one of my all-time favorite Chicago tunes. It is a building anthem of that path to self discovery and finding meaning in all this crazy mess we live within.

Whatever path you are on, I hope you can embrace all of it, knowing no mud, no lotus. May we all bloom into everything we are meant to be.

Much love and peace to all of you. I hope you can join me for story and song #33 tomorrow on my path from wilderness to light. Thank you so much for reading.

The playlist links are below.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

“They can’t all be winners, kid.” That’s one of my favorite movie quotes. It is from “Bad Santa” when Billy Bob Thornton’s character barks the stinging reality to the kid who just found a cold pill inside his advent calendar. Thornton (Santa) ripped apart the calendar the night before in a drunken slog and ate all the candy. Out of guilt he tried to rebuild it before the kid found it the next morning.

While this day started just fine and perfectly normal, it didn’t take long for several conversations to go off the rails for me, a few miscues with work situations, and general disturbia staking its claim on this dear March 25th. To top it off, while running home to grab lunch and get some air, I got yanked for doing 45 in a 30 on one of the most obvious speed traps that I have traversed hundreds upon hundreds of times. They can’t all be winners, kid.

It would be easy to surrender to the idea that I’ve won some sort of reverse jackpot today. I knew I was going to be pulled over before I even passed the motorcycle cop. There was no sinking feeling, no ‘Oh shit!’ when I saw his lights blow up. When I pulled over on a side road and awaited my fate my mind began to overflow with perceptions and tropes about law enforcement, injustice, vengeance. The outlet for an overflowing mind is the bloodstream and I could feel it building up. No matter, I simply rolled my window down while he took my already presented documents and told me why I had been stopped. I said nothing, except at the end when he asked if I had any questions. “No.”

I drove home, Shannon knew what was happening, and the day moved on. Let it be.

A pivotal time in my life was when the writings of Pema Chodron showed up for me. Chodron is a Buddhist monk who has written volumes about living through a life where nothing is guaranteed and that normal is shaky ground. The first book I read of hers is called, “When Things Fall Apart”. Before Pema, I was still caught on the idea that when bad days or situations happened something was wrong, needing fixed. After Pema, I began to lean into the idea that the search for a fix or a perfect solution was a major cause for suffering and pain.

While these ideas may seem like ‘No shit Sherlock!’ when you say them out loud, we are heavily dosed with the problem of causing our own suffering and pain in our society. Whether it is a speeding ticket causing your blood to boil or a simple conversation at work that escalates to the point of wanting to jump out a window, we have a high propensity for increasing our pain by going against the grain of how the world works.

Ground is not solid, our plans are not linear, the weather changes, people don’t act like we want them to. They can’t all be winners, kid.

On my way back to work earlier I passed the same officer who pulled me over not even an hour before. I just waved and went on. When I got back to my desk I was greeted with a series of messages from someone who has felt like a sting in my ass for a week. My first responses weren’t the best, but I started to breath and step back. I simply looked out my window and said to myself, “Let it be.”

I’m not saying that all is roses and birds chirping now, I actually wouldn’t mind a stiff scotch. However, I have to believe that nearly a quarter century after coming upon the works of an old Buddhist monk who thought differently about how we approach the world, I might just have a chance at seeing at least one more sunset.

“Let It Be” is one of the greatest songs ever written. Paul McCartney wrote the story about a visit from his mother in a dream, a reassuring visit, which all came during a stressful time for The Beatles. When all seems lost, when the roads don’t turn how we like, and when all seems to crumble down, whether in the moment, hours, or days, we can let it be.

I welcome “Let It Be” as the 31st song on my playlist that will grow to 40 songs soon. The playlist links are below.

Much love and peace to all of you. I hope you can join me for another story tomorrow. I can’t wait to share what’s next.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Many years ago Shannon and I visited St. Thomas Episcopal Church in our former neighborhood for an Ash Wednesday service. It was a meditative and refreshing experience in a beautiful building among the Alabama pines near the Cahaba River. People were friendly and welcoming as they prepared for the beginning of Lent. That was the last time I attended a church service.

Through that visit I became connected to an Episcopal newsletter and every Lent season am delivered daily devotionals written by Episcopalian clergy and laypeople from across the world.

One of the inspirations for writing this ‘Wilderness to Light’ series is that newsletter. The stories, though being written by totally different people, connect in unity as the writers embark on a journey to Christianity’s ultimate destination. As the years rolled by and the stories continued to show up like clockwork to my inbox right at the beginning of Lent, I began to wonder what my story would be like along a similar spiritual path. What would it say? What would it sound like? Would there be any hope at all in my path? What would the destination be?

When I began writing consistently more than three years ago, one of the main drivers was for personal therapy, inward work. Yet, all that work is a search for meaning on the path of life, and that is about as outward as one can get. As I wrote yesterday, we don’t get to live our individuality in a vacuum. We rub elbows with humanity whether we like it or not.

I am finding this current project to be most challenging and most rewarding. Moving through past experiences while staying present in this current moment can be difficult. The tug to reminisce can be strong. So can the pull to stir up some good ol’ anger about things that have long evaporated into that past.

After 30 days of writing through the wilderness, I feel a turn more toward the 'light’. I’m not claiming I’ve found some huge answer to many of the questions, but I am seeing many circumstances in a new and brighter light. My visits to the darker areas have served their purposes. Those people, places, and surroundings that may have not have been all fun and games were unavoidable along this path, and there is one thing that I keep coming back to: I’m still alive. I’m still moving, I’m still growing, and I wouldn’t change where I’m at for anything else.

Though society can seem dark within our current times, it is hard for me to claim hardship while living in the circumstances I do. What is easy to see is people who do live in hardship, as long as I open our eyes. That may be the Iranian and middle-eastern civilians on the television screen. It may be under the interstate where a homeless encampment is set up on a regular route we drive by. It may simply be a friend who is going through one helluva time. Whatever the case, we all have the opportunity to see it, if we will simply put down our rules of qualifications and quit trying to put conditions on people. We all have the opportunity to do something, whether we think it or not.

There is a story, referred to often as “the most beautiful of stories”, about a man who was tossed away by his jealous brothers and sold into slavery. He was ripped away from his family and homeland. When things seemed to be taking a turn for the better he was falsely accused of a crime and thrown into prison where even in dire straits he gave of himself to help others. This man had the gift of interpreting dreams.

When Egypt’s King was having baffling dreams and none of his advisors could figure them out, a lowly cupbearer remembered the man who interpreted dreams in prison. The cupbearer recommended him to the King. The result was an appointment. He became the King’s second in command, eventually saving his family, the one’s who betrayed him and forgiving them. His name was Yusuf, or Joseph.

Today I add “Alive” by Pearl Jam to my growing 40-day playlist. “Alive” blasted out from speakers in 1991 as the third track on Pearl Jam’s “Ten” album. My 26 year old flannel clad, long haired self had been going through a thing or two at the time this music hit, and I screamed that chorus until my throat gave out. A cathartic song, to say the least, one I still scream out. I have to think that ol’ Yusuf probably cried out similar back in his day.

Much love and peace to all of you. Thanks for reading along. I truly hope that perhaps a few words, or one of the songs, might bring some joy, comfort, healing to some. Hold the ones you love, and let’s all try to help where we can.

Playlist links are below. I can’t wait to share what’s next.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

We all wake up to the sunrise. Whether we see it or not, the big orange ball is there. Of course it hits people at different times in different places, and depending on where one lives you may see the sun come up over a mountaintop, in the ocean’s horizon, or miss it completely with the blocking of skyscrapers or even the walls of a prison cell. It’s still there, reliable.

Though we are all different and have our unique situations, things impact us as communities. No matter what we believe, how we feel, or how we look, we do not experience our unique individuality in a vaccum. We rub elbows with humanity whether we like it or not.

The stories of Easter have captivated me this season. It has been refreshing to visit the legendary stops of Jesus along his route to Jerusalem without the hindrances of my past experiences. No preachers, no sermons, no sunrise service, no Christian rock show, no testimonies, no films, no one trying to push it down my throat, including my own self. As I have wandered along my path, the stories have reminded me how far we can dare to go if we give ourselves and PEOPLE the chance. The main thing about that ‘chance’? If we just accept people like they are. Not how we want them to be, but who they are exactly now, no questions.

In one of these great stories, Jesus was traveling to Capernaum and his disciples were squabbling about status, differences, what made each of them better than the other. As typical, he sat them down, and this time brought a child into the group and told his guys, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me.”

Children were not highly esteemed in that culture. They were yet to be productive. However, Jesus reversed that idea by pointing out the value of everyone, regardless of where they were from or how old they were. What sticks out to me in the story is that the child was not vetted. We don’t know where he/she came from or what that kids situation was. It didn’t matter. What did matter was that Jesus was on a mission and needed everyone to get on board with the idea that we all are valuable.

His message was for the institutions, government, but mostly for the people. Everything I see Jesus do throughout the legendary stories is focused on the people; on helping anyone who came in contact with him to have the opportunity to be everything they could be. Especially relevant in the current times of darkness we live in, it seems like Jesus knew that fools were in power, so he focused on where he knew the real power existed.

I’ve mentioned before that I realize much of what I write is enough to be convicted of apostasy in many religious circles. That’s o.k. As I look across the landscape of the communities I am involved with, there are plenty of people who are offering a good swim in the lakes of mercy and grace who aren’t involved in church. The stories that explode off those historic pages, handed down generation over generation are for the people; all the people. In otherwords, we do not experience spirituality in a vacuum that only exists within the walls of church communities; physical and spiritual walls. As much as I think I have traveled this season on my own personal path, I haven’t. I am rubbing elbows with humanity and being exposed to that mercy and grace in unmeasurable forms, whether I like it or not.

Today I add “People Have the Power” by Patti Smith to my growing playlist. It kicks off a stretch signaling less than two weeks before we wrap up the season. I started today focused on how I might write about the tomfoolery of our national leadership. Then I stopped, and read that story about Jesus and the little child. That led me to today’s song, for the people really do have the power.

I hope you enjoy today’s song, the rebellion and power of it all. Playlist links are below.

Much love to all of you, and may we all find peace, joy, and light in the wilderness.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. I can’t wait to share what’s next.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spring presents a flurry of activity for sports fans. It seems that all sports have some activity regardless of the size and shape of the ball. If the action isn’t on the fields of play, it is in the halls of business as contracts, trades, and all sorts of merriment have fans wondering what their favorite teams will look like for the upcoming season.

Just this week the world witnessed The World Baseball Classic provide a show like no other when Venezuela out dueled the U.S.A. to win the crown. The insanity of March Madness flew quickly as we saw a field of 64 men’s basketball squads get cut in half in two days of furious play. Hockey, racing, NBA, Cricket, Soccer are just some of the sports in play right now providing happiness and stress to fans worldwide.

As we move closer to April and the celebration of Easter, as Lent and Ramadan march on down their respective paths, I want to take a breath for the weekend and simply tell a short story of what I have come to find as a fanbase like no other.

I have watched soccer for years, but it wasn’t until early 2015 that I was introduced to something that has changed how I view sports fandom. Liverpool F.C. is perhaps the most storied of storied clubs in the top tier of English football, the Premiere League. With 20 top-flight league titles to their credit, The “Reds” were founded in 1892 and to this day play their home games at Anfield, a district of Liverpool, England.

It was in that year of 2015 I met Shannon. Through her I was introduced to people who I hope will be my friends for life. Something peculiar about all these folks sitting in Birmingham, Alabama: Almost exclusively, they are soccer fans and deep fans of Liverpool. Through Shannon, I have come to know people who lived in England, India, grew up in Vietnam, and many who were born and bred right here in Alabama. Yet, there is a wild and fanatical fandom moving throughout them based in allegiance to Liverpool.

As an American football fan, growing up with NFL teams like the Dolphins and Chiefs, I sometimes compare Liverpool to the Pittsburg Steelers, known for its working class base and championship pedigree. But soccer fans are much different about their loyalty than anything I’ve seen in the NFL.

Soccer fans get up at the crack of dawn to watch the matches from across the pond. They gather in huge parties with their teams ‘clubs’. They win together and they lose together. They laugh and cry, live and die.

In the early 60’s a tradition began taking place at home Liverpool matches. Before each game the Top 10 songs of the week would be played over the public address system. In 1963 the Liverpool music scene, often refered to as the Merseybeat scene, was producing acts that would change the world. Yes, The Beatles were a part of that. Another group, Gerry And The Pacemakers gathered with Beatles producer George Martin to record and release a version of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein tune “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. The song was originally written for the musical “Carousel” and was well known. Over time artists like Frank Sinatra and Elvis would record it. Recently, Lana Del Rey and Brittany Howard have recorded the classic.

Yet, the 1963 Gerry And The Pacemakers version went straight to number one and began being played before Liverpool matches. Fans in “The Kop” took to the song, to the point that when it fell out of the top ten they kept singing it and demanded their song. That was the beginning of what has become an anthem synonymous with Liverpool.

There are other Liverpool songs, but there is none at the level of connection than “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.

On April 15, 1989, Liverpool squared up for a match against Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup semi-final. The match took place at Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield. As the mid-afternoon kick-off approached a large bottleneck of Liverpool fans occured at the turnstiles. A police superintendent ordered an exit gate to be open. Fans rushed in and disaster happened.

A massive crushing took place and 96 Liverpool supporters lost their lives. Years later, in 2021, a man named Andrew Devine succumbed to brain injuries suffered that fateful day in 1989, becoming the 97th victim of the Hillsborough disaster.

To this day, Liverpool wears a ‘97’ on their jerseys. To this day, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” is sung in unison by Liverpool fans throughout the world. They laugh together, they cry together, they win together, and lose together.

Today I add that classic version of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” by Gerry And The Pacemakers to my growing playlist. This one goes out to people who have shown me what true loyalty and fandom is. Blake, Harold, Kiran, Phil, the other Phil, and John. I raise a glass high to all of you and to your team. I can’t think of a better fanbase anywhere. Cheers!

Much love to all of you, and may we all find peace, joy, and light in the wilderness.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. We will take tomorrow off. Enjoy some rest, friends, and family.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

It can be difficult to see people go in separate directions throughout the course of life. I have certainly walked a different path than many who at one time I shared similar roads with. Seeing good memories and friendships dissipate in the distance can be sad. There are definitely more “I miss them” than “Good riddance” when I think about folks from my past.

I remember in my college and young adult days revering many religious artists and authors as icons and huge figures that understood spiritual things at a different level than most. They were leaders, spokespeople, and warriors for the causes. I worked alongside many of them. I promoted their work. Over time my viewpoints evolved as new and different circumstances of life came my way. They evolved too.

It is not as if one side left the other in prodigal-type form, it is more like a widening of the roads between us. As I embraced more holistic world wide views of people and began knocking down walls of spiritual separation in my life, some of my early idols hunkered down and decided the walls needed to be higher and more fortified to protect the causes.

So much so that there became a willingness to endorse and embrace people and platforms opposite of those causes just to make sure they had the right construction materials to make those walls higher.

I had to put away my idols. Bless them. I don’t wish harm on them, but their path is not mine. Maybe someday I will run into them and we can talk about it all, but that time is not now.

I have written extensively about dissolving the walls between us, leaning in and doing our best to understand perspectives that differ from ours. I believe peace and progress can be found by coming together through our differences. While my beliefs alone are enough for some to call me an apostate, I don’t take it personally and am beginning to come to a place where I can attempt to bridge some of those gaps that have been caused by time and life. I see that as growth. Any day that leads me to less anger, judgement, or worry about what someone else is doing is a step in the right direction.

We all have work to do. We can’t all be on the same path, but much like I wrote of the Thirty Years’ War yesterday, there comes a time when we have to come together and respect each others paths so that we can move forward. I haven’t given up just because I think that any day now the sky is going to crack open and the real show will start when those judgement books come out. I actually believe what we do matters, and again, there is much work to do. So much that if time were to come to an end, how will I be found? Building those walls higher or breaking them down to try to help someone. I think I will gamble on the latter.

The reality is that some relationships grow, some evolve, some end. Ending relationships can be a doozy to one’s ego and heart. Whether friends, family, associates, it hurts to see someone go; especially when you want to build that relationship back and the chasm is too big to reconstruct.

It would be nice if we could freeze the good moments and sit in them a bit longer, let them marinate into us where it wouldn’t take a lifetime to have to look back in order to realize what they meant. Maybe some of those paths wouldn’t have grown so far apart.

Today I add “Time Stand Still” by Rush to what is now a 27 song strong playlist. Rush released the album “Hold Your Fire” in 1987 during my late college days that I often write about. “Time Stand Still” is an anthem, perhaps a prophetic anthem, of the evolutions of life that were happening to me during college and continue through today.

As I write this, we are on top of the anniversary of losing both of my parents three years ago. We also lost one of our dear pets, Sugar, on the same date a few years before that. This time in March is somewhat haunting between the blossoming of spring and the memories of loss. Shannon came up with one of the best ideas I’ve heard when we realized that yesterday was the date of these losses. She said we should mark this day moving forward and find a way to celebrate their memories. I agree. It’s going to be some party, and I can’t think of a better way to make time stand still.

Much love to all of you, and may we all find peace, joy, and light in the wilderness.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. I can’t wait to share what’s next.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”

This famous 17th century quote came out of the aftermath of one of the most brutal religious wars in history: The Thirty Years’ War. The continental conflict grew out of religious disputes, mainly when Ferdinand II wanted everyone in Europe to be Catholic. The Protestants and other religions disagreed. Europe was reshaped, landscapes devastated, 8 million lives lost. Historians say that out of that war came many of our modern concepts of church and state. Basically, society.

The modern version of that quote has gone through many negotiations and changes since the 1600’s. I remember first hearing it come from the pulpit earlier this century, but the wording had changed a bit. “Essentials” were now “non-negotiables”. While I don’t attend church at this juncture in life, I can’t resist the occasional tune in of the local congregation on Sunday morning TV. I’ve heard the “non-negotiables” version there several times.

I am by far not going to win any theology contests, nor do I claim to be a biblical scholar. Most people aren’t. Yet, I am a member of a society that has seen a great amount of negotiating when it comes to American spirituality .

As a 22 year old working for a religious institution, the girl I was going out with at the time had a list waiting for me one Saturday afternoon. It was a list of reasons why I needed to speak in tongues. I dismissed the list and told her it wasn’t for me, and the next thing I knew my MacCregor George Foster signature model baseball glove was flying at my head. It was a fight of differences.

That same time of life, my boss, the pastor of the institution I worked for called me to his office and said he wanted me to quit going to the church I attended and go to his. Further, he wanted to take 10% of my paycheck for a tithe. I said that I was happy at my current church, and he promptly fired me. A few years later while I lived in Memphis I saw a story about him on tv. He did prison time for being tangled up in a financial fiasco with drug runners.

The goals and spirit of that original quote were to help bring unity to a torn apart world. It fit the time’s context and was real within the historical point. Just like so much of centuries old history; legends, myths, and stories all get renegotiated as time rolls on. We wrestle with the historicity of belief to imprint our own narratives for the times we live in. Today, it’s easy to go to a church website and find out what their non-negotiables are, their rules. 100% of the time, those non negotiables are negotiated at some point. It’s ALL a negotiation.

At some point, we all decide where we are going to put our spiritual feet down. None of us are exempt. Not everyone is going to agree with those beliefs. There will be wide chasms of differences and narrower concerns depending on geography, upbringing, neighborhood, friends, congregation. Within all of that, none of us have it 100% down. No one. Faith is never proven by defending the differences. Faith is revealed by how we carry the difference.

In my negotiation of “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity” I tend to turn it backwards a bit: “In all things charity, in all things liberty, for everything and everyone is essential”.

Except for possibly the Quakers, I have not found any church that I meet the ‘essentials’, and frankly no one is clamoring to invite us in. The only time Shannon and I have been invited to a church in the past decade is for weddings or funerals. I simply realize that countless people benefit from those structures, and countless people don’t. It doesn’t have to be a war, and the most gracious people I know within those institutions aren’t knocking me down because of those differences. They carry those differences with grace and that’s why I can look at them and love them as brothers and sisters, even if we do not believe the same things.

Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, in a broken Europe, a few people saw the need to come together regardless of differences. During the Peace of Westpahlia the moments came when warring factions were able to lay down their arms and negotiate ideas about existing side by side regardless of differences. The entire world changed for the better because of it. Their faith was revealed in how they carried the differences in the bleakest of times. I believe that opportunity exists right here and right now, for us.

Today I add Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers “Brothers and Sisters” to my 40-day playlist. It is the second song on the Wilderness to Light playlist, both from the 1993 “Joy and Blues” album.

I have had to get over a ton of negativity over the years that has been energized by my willingness to fight wars because of differences. While I have not arrived to some enlightened place, I am better. There are bridges I wish I could rebuild that may be beyond repair. However, there are many more paths that keep opening up when I simply carry grace, mercy, and understanding.

Much love to all of you, and may we all find peace, joy, and light in the wilderness.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. I can’t wait to share what’s next.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

I work in a complicated business. They say that you don’t want to see how the sausage is made, and that old adage applies to what I do on a daily basis. The masses enjoy the result, and while many think they know how it all works, they mostly don’t. I find it to be a miracle that what I am involved with actually works, and that’s one reason I like doing what I do: It’s magical.

I work alongside people from all over the country, different backgrounds, generations, departments, jobs. People in my office are mostly from here in Alabama and yet we find ourselves relying on teams in far off places like New York and the Carolinas to help us. It is essential to listen, learn, and try to simplify whatever possible in a highly complicated environment. There is so much busyness and opportunity to go down rabbit holes of distraction, and it is easy to get off that trek of trying to make things simple and smooth. There are definitely bumps along the way.

My work environment is not unique. So many of us make our livings in diverse communities of co-workers and customers, and great numbers of those environments are much more difficult than mine. Work enviornments are one of the best examples of practicing the things I have been writing about during this season. While I lose it much more often than I would like, it is in taking a moment to clear my attention, listen, and think before I react that helps me most.

Over the past three and a half weeks I have written about the pursuit of common ground in an effort to find a path forward in difficult times. Leaning into difficult situations and doing the hard things that allow us to see other people as they are, not as the noise of this connected world wants us to see them. Where we work is a great example of these things, but that is only a portion of the life we live. Hopefully, our lives are bigger than our work and there is much more to engage with when we go home from the office.

Wherever we find ourselves, language is important; not English or Spanish as much, but the language of humanity that is based in understanding. The first step of being able to understand anyone is to see the other person as a human, just like you. Without that, there is instant separation, and a quick look around your social media feed will show you just how rampant the epidemic of separation is.

We can go through history and find legends of what happens when people don’t understand each other. It’s basically the cause of most wars. We see biblical stories of how language can send civilizations into a schism like happens in the story of the Tower of Babel. In the story of Pentecost it is language that brings people together, but not the actual language. Though they all speak different languages, they understand each other.

So often we want people to speak OUR language with no attempt in simply trying to understand them. We want people to be like US and assimilate. I hate to tell you, but that’s not how we are going to get to better places. Language is much deeper than how we talk, it is how we live and approach the world. Our ability to approach others in a manner of attempted understanding will directly impact our progress.

The world is complicated, it’s magical too. Maybe the miracle of it all isn’t that we try to believe the same thing. Maybe it’s that, in the middle of the noise, we still recognize the same light-and for a moment, we speak with one tongue.

Today I add Hothouse Flowers, “One Tongue” to my growing playlist. This Irish band shot out of complicated times within their homeland in the 80’s. “One Tongue” is just one example from Hothouse Flowers of a universal plea to come together for the greater good regardless of our situations. I hope you enjoy the band, they are one of the great ones. Playlist links are below.

Much love to all of you, and may we all find peace, joy, and light in the wilderness.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. I can’t wait to share what’s next.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Empathy has been taking a hit lately. The idea of seeing things from another person’s perspective or view, to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, has been given a kick in the pants by some who now believe it is ‘weak’ and may lead people to being taken advantage of, possibly to the point of moral and spiritual compromise. Heck, if you have too much empathy, maybe you’ll be sucked in by that person who buys a bag of chips with their SNAP benefits, or maybe you will support Islam. Play cards with the Devil and you just may end up running liquor across the border for him.

That’s the world we live in now: Demonizing what we don’t understand to make sure our territories are protected, no matter the cost. We constantly see the extremes of it all, pushing, pushing, and pushing people from one another. Yet, I am pessimistic of this movement. Divided people tend to overestimate how extreme their opponents are.

Empathy has not gone away. The fact is that being able to take the perspective of another person is a main force in bridging gaps and moving toward understanding and unity. Empathy is still in business.

I have personally felt my back burn from the heated stares in ‘moral’ environments. Whether from looking different, being a single father, or being open about my beliefs, it doesn’t feel great to have judgement come down on you. I never could quite square the idea that those environments were supposed to be about Jesus, someone who was disenfranchised regularly along his path. I left those places and began moving straight into worlds and communities where I had to look very different people right in the eye and try to understand them. I am so glad for those experiences. While I claim no moral victory, the moral resets that accompany me through life are driven by leaning into people who aren’t like me. The reality and beauty of it all is that this includes everyone. We all are different, and the best opportunity to bridge the gaps we are seeing is to come together through empathy; even if it means visiting some of those people and places that you once left.

This past weekend Shannon and I caught the film “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert”. The film shows archival footage of The King’s career anchored in his Las Vegas residency concerts. I came out of the film with two distinct thoughts: “What a sweet man that guy was.” and “We need him today.” Elvis Presley was perhaps one of the best curators of American songs in our history. Hundreds upon hundreds of songworks he would bring together. In the late 60’s until his death in 1977 he did not shrug away from hard topics. He leaned into them. Poverty and empathy are two of those subjects.

Today I add Elvis’s version of “Walk A Mile In My Shoes”. The song is a part of the soundtrack to the new EPiC film. Elvis’s call for empathy and compassion transcends any sermon I’ve witnessed. His grace and command work perfectly together to bring urgency to what should be the easiest of things to understand. And, his message is as relevant today as it was in the late 60’s and 70’s.

We all see the ridiculous polarization, lack of empathy and compassion, play out on our phones and televisions. Leaders and prognosticators telling us how bad the other side is. I don’t buy it. Those people need a moral reset just like all of us. I pray they can somehow get knocked in the spiritual jaw hard enough to realize it. Music can do that. It did it to me this weekend, and helped get me to a much sweeter place.

Enjoy today’s song. My playlist is now at 24 songs and growing. Links are below. If you find yourself having trouble with someone, even if the bridge seems burnt and broken, try walking a mile in their shoes.

Much love to all of you, and may we all find peace, joy, and light in the wilderness.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. I can’t wait to share what’s next.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Dixie Alley refers to an area of the Mississippi Valley that includes Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and of course Mississippi. It is an area where storms have become more violent in recent times, especially tornadic activity. Having grown up in Tornado Alley, in Kansas, I have always lived with the threat of tornadoes. They are brutal, and rarely seen coming. I didn’t outrun that threat by moving to the south. Due to the southern terrain and the fact that many of these storms come at night, the tornadoes I have seen in the south are much deadlier than the ones from my childhood land.

As our neighborhood shook from the band of storms that rolled through Alabama overnight, few people had a full-bore snow storm on their bingo card going into this morning. It was a strange segue from a weekend of sun and fun, with most everyone frolicking out and about, to a drenching mid-morning snow storm.

The weather’s whiplash, from sun to snow, is a mirror for the seasons of the soul. Whether indulging in the modern revelry of St. Patrick’s Day festivities or just enjoying life to its fullest in beautiful sunny weather, those breaks and respites can seem short lived against the pure fury of nature, or the brutal truths that accompany life in a broken world.

There are many brutal truths raining down on us these days. This is nothing new, and it could be said that worse times have existed. I have written much in my 22 previous ‘Wilderness to Light’ stories on how good and bad things happen at the same time. It is challenging to lean into joy when so much can feel so off.

Yet, time and time again across the oceans of history humanity finds a way to get through. It’s difficult to find historical moments when at the very worst of it all there isn’t a cry out for mercy, help, prayers for guidance. “Lord, have mercy.”

I kick this week off by adding Amy Grant’s “Lead Me On” to my growing playlist. In 1988, shortly after I graduated college, Amy Grant released her album of the same title. “Lead Me On” did not hold back. There was something different about this Amy Grant, something a bit more grounded in the harsh realities of the world. “Lead Me On” delved head on into two of the hardest parts of our history: Slavery and the Holocaust. The song dared to ask hard questions about the toughest circumstances.

“Ehcoes of a slamming door
In chambers made for sleeping forever
Voices like thunder in a mighty roar
Crying out to the Lord”

We try so hard to refresh our bodies, minds, souls; yet this world can seem like a gut punch that is much harder than the worst hangover. The realities of loss, hurt, job situations, health, can rock us like an Alabama tornado coming out of nowhere. One minute we can be laughing without a care and the next wondering if we are going to make it. None of us are exempt, and there is no predicting when the storm will come or where it will go.

In the storms, we pick up, we move forward, sometimes against all reason and with everything against us. We cry out, “Lead me on”.

Much love to all of you, and may we all find peace, joy, and light in the wilderness.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. I can’t wait to share what’s next. Links to my playlist are below.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

The faithful are usually not plotting conquest. They are learning mercy.

Religions may argue about whose man holds the fullest truth, yet, as you watch people pray, fast, share food, during seasons like Lent and Ramadan, there is something much deeper afoot. They are not praying for war and conquest, they are learning mercy. They are practicing humility, caring for neighbors, and seeking justice for the poor.

I believe this wholeheartedly, and refuse to give power to those who are purposely, willingly, blindly, using religion to justify violence and superiority, regardless of the sides.

There is a beautiful verse in the book of Isaiah that speaks of joy in the wilderness:

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
the desert shall rejoice and blossom like a rose.

Across the Christian tradition, tomorrow marks Laetare Sunday. It is the mid-way point of Lent and carries a sense of joy amongst hardships. The journey is not finished, it is hard, yet we can pause and experience joy with our communities.

Muslims around the world, including the United States of America, are fasting, praying, and feeding neighbors every evening during Ramadan. They are practicing restraint, seeking mercy, and sharing.

As we enter a weekend of contemplation and rest, I add U2’s “Beautiful Day” to my growing playlist. Bono has a way of navigating the seemingly impossible circumstances of our world. “Beautiful Day” greeted a new century in the year 2000 with a message of hope within those impossible circumstances. While acknowledging war, strife, environmental disasters, he leans in and simply says: “It’s a beautiful day - don’t let it get away.”

I wish all of you a beautiful day. It’s hard to pause when so much seems disrupted. It’s hard to trust the messaging being thrown at us. I will leave you with this:
If you find yourself in a congregation where anything less than mercy, grace, and justice is being espoused, there is an exit and you are free to leave. If the spiritual leaders have time to marginalize swaths of people, then you have time to leave. It’s a big world and there are plenty of people and places who are heading in a better direction.

Much love to all of you, and may we all find peace and joy in the wilderness.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. Links to my playlist are below. We will take Sunday off and return Monday.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Hymns were a big part of the soundtrack of my childhood. The Baptist Hymnal was filled with verses and choruses set to music from a time that didn’t sound like what was coming out of my dad’s car radio or my brothers 8-track players. Even as a young boy I gravitated toward lyrics, and a good amount of those hymn lyrics were downright scary and didn’t square with the reality I was experiencing. Looking back at it, I am not surprised that ‘church’ music has evolved into simpler, more positive choruses that reflect moreso the musical stylings of Mumford & Sons than some sort of weirdness from the 17th century.

During my childhood there was a song called, “I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy, Down in My Heart”. It was a frolicking hand clapper that was sung in almost every Sunday school class and children’s choir practice. The song was an instant smile producer for anyone and while being written decades before I was born fit well into the contemporary setting of the 70’s. I hated that song.

Until meditating on what led me to today’s writing, I’ve done a good job blocking out the memory of that gospel hit from the 70’s. While I sang, smiled, and clapped just like everyone else, my six, seven, and eight year old self had issues wrapping it around the other things being taught and sung to me. “The King Is Coming” certainly was more a warning to ‘watch out’ than a joyful anticipation of God’s return. “Just As I am (Without One Plea)” accompanied by Mom’s tap of my hand trying to get me caught up with the other kids who had already punched their ticket to Heaven. Well, as I struggled to understand all the pressure and confusion about walking the aisle on a Sunday morning, songs like that were not joyful. They were painful and downright scary.

It was hard to make sense of automatic joy, a joy unspeakable that just appears regardless of any situation. It didn’t square with reality. Yet, even to this day we push the narrative and storyline to make sure our children aren’t ‘left behind’.

No one wants to experience suffering and pain. I hope that we, humanity, don’t want that for anyone. It’s a place to aspire to, but the fact is that life is not one sided. Good exists at the same time problematic things exist. We dip our toes into the warm waves at the beach while sharks go about their business in the same territory.

I don’t buy theories that suggest joy is automatic. I see joy as needing counterparts in order to spark and release its power. There is no instant flick of a switch to initiate joy. It seems to arrive in its own energy, and usually right on time. Joy is always welcome, and it is when the chasm between joy and pain grows wider that we may see that energy force feel a bit more at home in ourselves. I do believe joy inhabits our home, and we need it, for sometimes we are reminded that it is not automatic.

Today I add “Joy” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds to my playlist. The song shares a helpless moment of waking with a deep pit in one’s stomach, so biting that the only response is to cry out for mercy. In the deepest chasm of despair a light appears: Joy. I believe you will enjoy the story with Cave’s metaphors and beautiful phrasings. Cave wrote it regarding his son Arthur who had passed years before. It is Arthur who opens the door for a still grieving father to move forward into the light of joy.

Though harsh at times, reality is much better than the stories we try to force upon it. We need the clarity of reality so that we can see we are all in the same boat. None of us want pain whether we are schoolchildren in Iran or a group of kids at Sunday school in anywhere U.S.A. As Nick Cave writes, “We’ve all had too much sorrow, now is the time for joy”. I wish everyone large portions of joy.

And, if the Devil doesn’t like it, he can sit on a tack!

Thanks for joining me on this journey. Links to my playlist are below. Tomorrow we will get ready for the weekend by moving into the mid-way point of Lent. It will be a beautiful day.

Apple Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light

Spotify Music Playlist: 40-From Wilderness to Light