My son Caleb collects goat skulls. Not baseball cards, or stamps or bugs. Goat skulls. Of course, this kind of thing can only last as long as there are skulls to be found on our property – and already, the number of them that we bring home from our walks has reduced to a trickle. [...]
Maybe you have read Blue Like Jazz. If you haven’t, make a point of doing so. Soon. Donald Miller’s honest approach to faith is so thoughtful and refreshing that his insight and voice will stick with you long after you finish. This weekend in Lexington, I was blessed with the opportunity to hear Mr. Miller [...]
I just spent a week grading Advanced Placement essays in Louisville, Kentucky. This explains the lower number of blog posts of late. It also marks the 5th summer I have had the privilege to do so, each of which has been filled with memorable insights from the younger generation. Unfortunately, I am prohibited from sharing [...]
Last night, I couldn’t fall asleep. Maybe I had too much caffeine during the day – quite likely since I’m having to stay awake while grading AP essays all day in Louisville right now…about Middlemarch. Maybe I stayed up too late with my good friend Matt Logsdon, talking about culture wars, Brother Lawrence and the [...]
Have you ever tried to raise $150,000 in 5 months? If you have, call me now and tell me the secret…please! If you haven’t, let me share an inside look. First off, asking someone for money is humbling. It’s an open admission that you can’t do something by yourself, with your own resources. And let’s [...]
http://www.joebilldixon.com/staff.html At breakfast this morning, Brandon Maxwell and I met with Joe Bill Dixon, one of Whetstone’s founding board members. If you lived in West Plains, I would not have to write anything else. I could end this entry right now, and you would call up our office to ask how you could be involved [...]
My dad, who has successfully run his own business for over 30 years, likes to say: “If we knew what we were doing, we wouldn’t be doing this.” Now obviously, he has done a lot of things right over the years: made enough money to raise 6 kids on one salary with his wife at [...]
People ask me what I’m going to teach the boys on the ranch. One answer is that many things will teach themselves…like Emily Dickinson. Out here, I feel myselfSurrounded by Emily Dickinson - her Metaphors – exploding all around – Her flowers – her bees,Her sunsets – her trees!the family, she held so Dear -the [...]
I have noticed that since moving to the country, my eyes and ears have started working better. I take more time to see and hear. The flock of birds that flies by above me makes a whizzing sound. The noises in the distant fields at night have names and strange faces. When I go on [...]
One-eyed chicken survivor miraculously appeared this morning. Rejoined his compatriots who now, for some reason, stick remarkably close together. Need me to draw the analogy to at-risk boys? I think not. That’ll preach. P.S. If this is confusing, read my previous blog.