Choosing to Stand Down

During my years on a SWAT team, the man who carried all our necessary gear was called the Utility Man. A Utility Man carried bolt cutters, tape to mark doorways once a room was cleared, rope, various tools along with our flashbang and smoke grenades. On top of all the...

Grace in the Time of Sorrow

Have you ever had a friend move away and realize you might never see them again? It is a sad feeling, a sorrow of sorts. Maybe you attended a family reunion where a parent or grandparent was present, and you left the gathering realizing this might have been the last...

Staging Our Lives

The Church is going through a transition. We are being prepared for the future through a process of simplification. Before that transition can take place on a larger scale, it must first happen in our personal lives. It is never enough to ask, or even demand that...

Fight or Flight or Faith?

Our brain is a unique and wonderful creation. When high-stress events take place the region of the brain called the amygdala takes over. This is part of our thinking process where the fight or flight response is issued. The amygdala is the emotional center of our...

Why Our Lives Crash

In one of Tom Clancy’s novels, Debt of Honor, Japan goes to war against the United States. In the conflict, a 747 pilot with Japan Airlines is mentally traumatized by the death of his son and brother during the conflict. On a flight into Washington D.C., he flies his...