“You’re not my real dad.” Okay, maybe those weren’t the actual words a 12-year-old Jesus spoke after he’d left Mary and Joseph for three days without their knowing where He’d gone. But, it was kind of the same sting after his mother said in Luke 2:48-49: “Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” Jesus replied, “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” WWJ(oseph)D What would Joseph do as he stood there gazin

Years ago, I sat in a meeting with a new mayor while interviewing to become the police chief. The interview went great and I knew the position was mine. Because of the highly political nature of the position, I wanted to make clear that leading the police department was my priority, and not playing an elected official’s surrogate. “What are your expectations of me as the chief of police.” His reply sealed the deal, “Do the right thing.” If I had to ask or he had to explain wh

I used to take great pleasure submitting my resume. It was fantastic. Filled with accomplishments and accolades, the pages flowed from the first to the twenty-ninth. I loved reading it, and knew that everyone else did too – right? Let me stop there before someone deletes this article without realizing its sarcasm. Although, in there, are truths. “I binged on the consumption of earthly crowns.” During the years I spent chasing those empty accolades for the sake of placing a sh

FIT@50 / Week 91: I See You Our kids are well, kids. They rattle on when they should just hush and shut down when they should shine. But alas, they are kids. I’d say for the most part they are pretty socially capable. Relatively speaking of course. After all, the boys are 7, 9, and 10. They’ve all noticed I enjoy talking with people. The 13-year-old calls me mister sociable, and then the 7-year-old stumbles over the pronunciation of “sociable” to ask what it means. She smacks

I recently attended a marriage conference where one morning involved separating the husbands and wives into different rooms. The conversations had to be wildly different. We guys even joked about what we thought they were chatting about. Even more mysterious was wondering how they went about talking of being wives and mothers. As Leah would reveal as we compared notes over a lunch, our sessions went very different. The men’s portion about fatherhood began with a request from

Balance Balancing this thing called fatherhood is tough. Rearing your biological kids is challenging, but then toss in a few more little ones in a blended family scenario, and you’ve got the potential for a real special situation. Whether that is a negative or positive scenario is very much up to you. Where do we start as dads who want to be the ideal father, but honestly have no clue where to catch traction? I can assure you it’s not by diminishing your authority as the head