When I was about eight years old, I was entered into a Pinewood Derby contest that was being held at our church. On one Saturday morning, my dad and I planned to model and paint the car.

When I was in the second grade, my teacher asked for a volunteer to run to the office and get some copies made  for her. Seeing this as a chance to get out of class for a while, I eagerly raised my hand and was lucky…

When I was 13, I worked in the horse stables at a summer camp in my hometown. Every year, the camp leased about 70 horses so campers could take trail rides and riding lessons. The people who ran the program owned a…

In 1994, I had the opportunity to do a three-month international internship in Argentina. The plan was for me to take Spanish lessons in the morning (despite my name being Carlos, I am not fluent in Spanish) and to…

When my second son was in 5th grade, our family spent the weekend camping with a host of other families from the school that our children attended. Sometime that Saturday afternoon, my son came back to our campsite…

In 2019, my wife and I took our youngest son on a spring break road trip through Utah and into Arizona. Our goal was to visit as many national parks as we could in the 7 days we had. Each park we visited was…

A few weeks ago, my wife was telling me about a book she was reading. In the book, the author recounts a conversation he had with someone who told him that, "Jesus is for the weak!" Clearly this was meant as an insult.

A few years ago, I was speaking at a business conference and asked the audience, "How do you define success?"

I remember the first time that I ever played a round of golf.

One degree.

About four years ago, I had dinner with a client I had known for some time. We first met back in 2016 when he was at a software company that I was also working with. He had since moved on, and several years had…

I have a memory of our youngest son when he was four years old. I cannot remember where we were, but somewhere along the way, he saw a decorative display of a big fruit basket. The basket was beautifully decorated…

Early in my career, in the late 90s, I was working for a marketing services firm in Dallas, TX. One day, the CEO popped into my office and asked if I was available to accompany her on a sales call later that week. I…

Several years ago, I was having breakfast with the president of a company I had partnered with. We were discussing a challenging engagement with one of their sales VPs when he suddenly stopped, picked up his phone,…

Over the last few months, I've had several conversations with people who have walked away from or are seriously questioning their faith in Christ. The one consistent reason in all of these conversations? Hurt.

I just started studying the book of Ezra. It is not the most exciting book of the Bible, but it has so many lessons, and when paired with Nehemiah (the original text had the two as one book), it gives so many lessons…

Many summers ago, our family was vacationing at a family camp in the Colorado mountains. It was late evening, and my kids wanted to get into the recreation room to play some games before bed. There was only one…

More than 30 years ago, on a cool August evening, my wife Susanne went into labor with our first son. At the time, we lived in the same remote Adirondack town that we do now, which meant that the closest hospital was…

In our home, we have a small, unassuming coffee table (pictured above). It is by far my favorite piece of furniture that we have or have ever owned. It is not because of its value, but it is the story behind it.

A little over seven weeks ago, I was at the gym when it felt like a bomb went off in my head. After one ambulance ride and a Life Flight, I found myself in the emergency room of Albany Medical Center and was told…