Always a Student: A Father’s Day Reflection

June 13, 2025

I can’t help but wonder when the explosion of graduation ceremonies took place. The fuse to that trend certainly wasn’t lit by 1977, the year I graduated from college. Fast forward to 2025, and now—as grandparents—we’ve celebrated a kindergarten graduation and two eighth-grade graduations, all in the same season. Graduation is about completion. Finality. Closure. […]

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A Popper Full

May 23, 2025

On May 24th, 2015—her 90th birthday—Eunice Cargo made a bold move from Brighton, Michigan, to Aurora, Colorado. It was a courageous step, and one that ultimately impacted Mary, me, and our entire family just as deeply as it impacted Eunice herself. It’s true. My own story of impact has, at its core, a simple yet […]

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The Rocks Beat Me To It

May 16, 2025

It was Michelangelo who brilliantly said, “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” Perhaps he was echoing the perspective of Jesus during the Pharisaical uproar over the praise being lavished on Him just a week […]

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Don’t Swerve

May 9, 2025

Not long after Mary and I moved to Franklin, Tennessee in 1987, we gathered our three kids and two Nashville nieces and set out on a Christmas tree hunt. We’d heard about a local tree farm with an outstanding selection, so we borrowed my brother’s larger vehicle and headed out for what we hoped would […]

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In a tear…

May 2, 2025

In a tear. Through a tear. With a tear… Jesus shows the way. In the quiet moments of the morning on May 5, 2010, Donald William Cargo showed us the way, too. His four children, his beloved wife, and a few others were gathered at his bedside. His body, no longer able to fight the […]

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Even at 70

April 25, 2025

Somewhere, tucked inside the fog of distant childhood memories, is an unforgettable interaction with a man who himself stayed in the shadows. Graybill Wolgemuth was my father’s father—a man with persistently whining hearing aids, an unwelcoming beard, a posture of seriousness, and a famine of words. He walked with God. Quietly. Stoically. Obediently. Joylessly. There […]

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A Call to Remember. A Promise to Steward.

April 11, 2025

On April 16, 1978, in St. Louis, Bob Forsch pitched the first no-hitter of his major league career as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals—a 5-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. I know about this milestone because I was there. Or more precisely, Mary and I were there, bundled together in the bleak, drizzly […]

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Solspeil

April 4, 2025

It’s dark. Division, dissension, bitterness, hatred, prejudice, war, natural disasters, and loneliness all seem to be having their day. It’s hard to watch. Job put it this way—and he put it well:“Why do the wicked have it so good,live to a ripe old age and get rich?They get to see their children succeed,get to watch […]

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Kansas

March 28, 2025

Madness. That’s what they call it. 68 teams, all with lofty ambitions, and millions of people pouring time and energy—emotion, too—into making bracket predictions and forecasting outcomes. Our family is no exception. After the first weekend of play, when the pool of potential national champions shrank to just 16, I had a conversation with Abe, […]

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“How are you checking in today?”

March 21, 2025

It’s a question that comes up regularly in a nonprofit coaching group I’m a part of. Kimberly, our leader and guide, asks it, then listens intently as each coach shares their response. So, in 2025, what would be the most common answer? How would you reply? A catalog of familiar words comes to mind… Busy. […]

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