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We live in a strange moment. For the first time in history, millions of people wake up each morning and immediately hand their attention to machines. Not evil machines. Not necessarily malicious machines. Just machines that have one job: Keep you engaged. Keep you scrolling. Keep you reacting. Keep you distracted. Keep you consuming. And if we're not careful, we can spend years being shaped by forces we never consciously chose. The real danger is not technology. The real dang

Carrying Them as Far as They Can Go: Where Dallas Herring Meets Matthew 25 The "Ivory Tower of Academia" with an open door and a "welcome" sign. I am a higher education administrator at a small, rural community college in eastern North Carolina. A recent homily (on Matthew 25:31-46) inspired me to align the tenets of that Gospel reading with the mission of the Community College System that served me 35 years ago, as a high school graduate who didn't know what he wanted to do

Time & Light, by Bear Panneton CCC 1165 reads: When the Church celebrates the mystery of Christ, there is a word that marks her prayer: "Today!" - a word echoing the prayer her Lord taught her and the call of the Holy Spirit. This "today" of the living God which man is called to enter is "the hour" of Jesus' Passover, which reaches across and underlies all history… Brothers, The enemy has two favorite hunting grounds: your past and your future. He wants you staring into the r

Every warrior eventually faces the same question: “Am I here to watch… or to fight?” That question matters because modern life trains us to be spectators. Scroll. Watch. Consume. Comment. Repeat. We sit in stadiums. We binge entire seasons. We watch other people live heroic lives while we slowly drift into spiritual passivity. And if we’re not careful? We bring that same mentality into Mass (Church). We sit in the pew like it’s a recliner at halftime. Wrong battlefield, Citiz

Today (6/5/2026) marked my 525th consecutive weekday workouts. I call it "525/525." 2 years and 1 week's worth (I forgot to post the celebratory "2-years-straight" thread last week). Anyhow, today's workout kinda sucked, to be honest. Everything felt heavy (worked chest and triceps); I was tired and cranky. But I haven't worked hard to maintain this streak to be entertained. I've done it, to try like hell to be better today than I was yesterday. To be ready when my family ne

[Scripture]: 1 Kings 14:26-27 [Spirit Juice]: When King Rehoboam lost the temple's true gold, he forged cheap bronze shields to project a cosmetic illusion of strength while his kingdom rotted from within. If your interior life is in ruins, your outward hustle is a hollow front that will inevitably bring down your family, business, and unit. [The Check-in]: What "bronze shields" are we polishing right now to fake spiritual or mental health (like our flawless, curated, online

UNCREATED FIRE [Scripture]: Matthew 3:11, Acts 2:2-4 [Spirit Juice]: Pentecost isn’t a soft, emotional sentimentality; it is a tactical deployment of uncreated fire designed to transform our fractured hearts into a fortified upper room. The Holy Spirit is not an entry-level helper assigned to coddle our personal feelings —He is a sovereign, refining power sent to vaporize our attachments and forge an unbreakable frontline. [The Reflection / Check-in]: What specific cultural c

[Spirit Juice]: Saint Moses the Black, a former warlord turned monk, once arrived at a brother's judgment carrying a leaking basket of sand on his back. He told his unit: "My sins run out behind me... and today I am coming to judge the error of another". In a digital panopticon that demands every man be defined forever by his worst moment, the "sand basket" is our radical counter-narrative—we must refuse to be the "moral police" of a cancel-culture world and instead embrace t

In higher education (and in many other places, I am sure), we are seeing more and more disconnection. Not only between faculty and students, but also between students and students, and even between faculty and their colleagues. It seems like we're getting busier and busier and have less time each day to fellowship and simply "get to know" one another. Remote meetings + the exponential growth (and demand) for online classes = even more "disconnection." We are losing access to

Here is an excerpt from my original book series, shared here so potential readers can see "what's going on in my books." These books are less "narrative stories" and more "research/reflection" tools. From: The Layman’s Reconnaissance Report: Practical Tools and Places to Look for the Modern Man’s Journey Home: A Fellow Traveler’s Field Notes on a Return to the Catholic Faith (Volume 1) Before you tighten your laces and step off the trailhead, we need to ensure your internal c

My Exodus 90 Fraternity group recently discussed music and its interpretation. When I was in college, I remember a fellow student telling me that she believed "every time a Heavy Metal song was played, it released a demon from hell." Now, I don't have much of a poker face, so I'm sure my "non-verbal communication" (see my "sword in the mouth" blog post) spoke volumes. I didn't push back, but I did find a quick exit from that conversation. I believe that demons don't need to b

I’ve read The Art of War a half-dozen times over the past 30 years, and the work and research I’ve been doing have forced me to ask: “Can we apply the martial teachings of Sun Tzu to our faith journey?” I think we can… From: The Layman’s Reconnaissance Report: The Armor of Strategy: Sun Tzu’s Art of War in the Modern Catholic Interior Life Introduction: The New Apostolic Moment We find ourselves today in what Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted calls a "New Apostolic Moment." It is a ti

In early February 2026, I stepped into the confessional for the first time in nearly 28years. I felt the same anxiety that many in my shoes feel when preparing for reconciliation after a long absence. From the book: The Layman’s Reconnaissance Report: Practical Tools and Places to Look for the Modern Man’s Journey Home: A Fellow Traveler’s Field Notes on a Return to the Catholic Faith (Vol 2) The bottom line is: Confession Is Not a Courtroom—It’s an Extraction The intimidatio

A friend is a friend at all times, and a brother is born for the time of adversity” (Proverbs 17:17)

God Is NOT Your Decorative Passenger