Eighteen years ago today, you were born. It feels impossible to even write that sentence. In my mind, I can still see you as that little boy running through the house, laughing at things only kids find funny, carrying toys in your hands, and excitement in your eyes. Yet here you are, eighteen years old, […]
A Letter to Landon, on his birthday Read More »
The rain started sometime after midnight. Not the violent kind of storm that rattles windows or sends people scrambling for weather alerts, just a steady Appalachian rain falling softly through the darkness. Before going to bed, I had accidentally left the door cracked open, and during the night the opening widened and the house slowly
Open Windows, Rainstorms, and Resilience Read More »
Our relationship with our parents doesn’t end when we become adults. It just changes form. And when that relationship is strained, it doesn’t stay contained in the past. It seeps into identity, into marriage, into how we see ourselves in the mirror. For better or worse, our parents are our first reference point for what
The Long Shadow of Our Parents Read More »
The Supreme Court handed down a decision today striking down Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors. The ruling, decided 8–1, surprised many. It will likely reshape how states regulate therapy, speech, and professional boundaries moving forward. For many of my colleagues in counseling and mental health, this decision feels like a step backward. For
We live at the end of a quiet road. Just us, one other property owner, and then the short stretch of the Daniel Boone National Forest rolling into Laurel River Lake. It’s the kind of place where mornings feel older than the calendar. Cold air. Frost on the grass. We love it here. A couple
The Totoro Hat and the Rifle Read More »
I love genealogy, and when I started digging into my family tree, I was expecting the usual things: farmers, coal miners, preachers, maybe a horse thief or two. What I did not expect was to discover that my ancestry is basically held together by Butts, Dicks, and Belchers. That’s not a metaphor. That’s literal. I
I Come From Butts, Dicks, Belchers… and Almost Fried Chicken Read More »
My great-grandfather, William Washington Elmore, was a handsome man, except for his left eye, which had been blinded when he was young. (See the photo attached. He is the young man in the front row.) In 1908, at age twenty-six, he married my great-grandmother, Diana Vincent. She was only sixteen. They were country folk, living
William Elmore and Brownie Read More »
I have been thinking all week about the confession of Philip Yancey. For decades, Yancey has been one of the clearest voices in evangelical Christianity, a writer who made grace feel believable again. His books didn’t just defend Christianity; they humanized it. He gave language to the weary believer, the bruised skeptic, the person who
When Christian Heroes Fall: Hypocrisy, Grace, and the Strange Work of Truth Read More »
Every November, I’m reminded of how strange it is that gratitude and resentment can live so close to each other. We gather to eat, laugh, and remember where we come from, and in the background, someone is already bracing for political landmines. I hear people say they’re skipping Thanksgiving this year because a family member
A Thanksgiving Worth Keeping Read More »
When a child starts to struggle at school, at home, or in relationships, most parents do what good parents do: they seek help. They call the school counselor, ask friends for referrals, or look for someone online who “specializes in kids like mine.” The problem is, in today’s world, that often means walking into a
Pt. 3 – Seeing Beyond the Label: What Parents Should Look for in a Therapist Read More »