The Morning Paper and Our Foundational Freedoms The mornings are my favorite time of the day. The house is perfectly still, save for the rhythmic ticking of the old clock in the hallway. I pour a cup of black coffee, sit by the front window, and watch the early light catch the leaves of the […]
A Memory of Dust and Deeds I have lived in this country my entire life, and I have watched countless seasons change the colors of our neighborhoods. I still clearly remember standing on the wooden front porch of my grandfather’s small farmhouse in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The wood was weathered by years of harsh winters, and […]
A Quiet Nation Before the Storm Have you ever stopped to look at a rushing river and thought about what secrets it holds? The water just keeps moving. It never stops to tell you where it has been. I spend a lot of time watching rivers these days. They remind me of our history as […]
The Quiet Before the Roar I sit by my window on a bright Tuesday morning, watching the world outside. The street is a symphony of moving metal, honking horns, and bustling sidewalks. Delivery trucks hum as they drop off packages. People hurry past with coffee cups in hand. It is a beautiful, chaotic dance. Looking […]
A Quiet Country Stretches Its Legs It is a beautiful thing to look back and trace the steps of those who walked before us. Think about our country as it was in the year eighteen hundred. The vast majority of our citizens lived within fifty miles of the Atlantic Ocean. Our young country was mostly […]
The Dust on Our Boots When the autumn wind picks up across the plains, it carries a very specific scent. It smells like dry earth, crushed sagebrush, and a quiet sort of promise. I have breathed in that scent my entire life, standing on soil my family has called home for generations. Sometimes, as I […]
The Dust on Our Boots and the Open Horizon I have spent many a quiet evening sitting on the porch, watching the sun dip below the trees, and thinking about the folks who came before us. We Americans have always been a people looking toward the horizon. There is a restlessness in our bones. We […]
I often sit on my porch as the sun dips low and think about the generations who walked this soil before us. You can almost feel their presence if you sit quietly enough. Picture a young father in the middle of the nineteenth century. He is standing in a dusty, crowded street in an eastern […]
The Quiet Promise of a New Land Welcome. Come sit and rest for a moment. I have spent my whole life walking the woods and streets of this beautiful country. Over the years, I have come to appreciate the deep roots that anchor us all. It is easy to look around today at our paved […]
When the morning sun crests over the hills and warms the wooden planks of my porch, I often find myself looking out at the quiet streets of our town. The air is still, save for the distant hum of a tractor and the cheerful chatter of birds in the old oak trees. It is in […]