Seeking Excellence

12 years, 3 legal battles, violent threats, national fame among some and infamy among others - all for not baking a cake. Was it worth it? You have probably heard of Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop here in Colorado. He first hit the headlines in 2012 when a lawsuit was filed against him after he refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding, because it violated his Christian beliefs. Phillips clarified his views in an interview before the court proceedings began, “I want to serve everybody who comes in and treat them the best way that I can with the most respect. I want them to realize that I’m a follower of Christ — that I want to serve them, but there are also cakes that they might ask for what I would not be able to create because of the message.” This is the example of a courageous Christian in the face of social pressure, hatred, and cancellation. Every day I come across professing Christians who have acquiesced to the radical left via placing pronouns in their bio or by flying pride flags in the month of June. It can be seen as nice and even welcoming, but ultimately, as Jack Phillips points out, it is wrong for a Christian to promote, celebrate, and go along with things that are objectively false and/or morally wrong. Situations like these remind me of something I heard long ago from Jordan Peterson in a documentary about his case against Canada for free speech. For context, he was a university professor at the time. He was willing to call trans students by their preferred names and pronouns, but he protested a law that would force professors to do so. He was more than willing to go along to get along out of what I assume he perceived as kindness, but he did object to using the force of law to demand people say things that were untrue. He's asked about this decision to draw a line in the sand at the place he chose to draw it. The interviewer asked, "isn't it somewhat arbitrary? After all, you're willing to do exactly what this bill is requiring anyway." His response was enlightening. He said something to the effect of "yes, it is somewhat arbitrary. But you can always make the argument that where you draw the line on the road to chaos and tyranny is arbitrary. The point is that you have to draw it somewhere or else you end up in a very dark place." I would imagine that Phillips was asked similar questions by loved ones and enemies alike through the last 12 years. Why not just bake the cake? You're not discriminating against the person, just the message. Why not just have someone else write the message? I believe Jack knows that if we don't draw the line somewhere, then we will lose the cultural and spiritual battle altogether. All stats on religion, church attendance, the mental health crisis, etc. will reinforce the fact that we are already losing, and losing badly. It is time for Christians to lovingly stand the line. Some call it arbitrary. I call it courage under fire. 📸 : Alliance Defending Freedom

I know that criticizing the Pope is frowned upon...but hear me out: First of all, let me begin by saying that I firmly believe it is not our place to judge the Pope as the laity in the Church. To my understanding, this means that people who deem Pope Francis a heretic or claim he is an illegitimate Pope stand in grave error and will have to answer for leading people astray at the end of their lives if they fail to repent. Secondly, I also strongly believe that any Catholic who continues to gaslight you by saying, "well that's not what he REALLY meant you see!!" after each one of these confusing and divisive moments from the Pope is doing much more harm than good. Defending the papacy is a good thing. Praying for and supporting the Pope is a good thing. Lying to your fellow Catholics that they are not seeing what's right in front of their eyes is damaging and breaking the Church apart. LinkedIn is a great place to say this as most of you already know it: the responsibility of communicating a clear message lies SOLELY on the communicator, not the recipient of the message. Will you sometimes have obstinate people who actively try to misinterpret what you say, especially if it's easy to do manipulate it? Absolutely. And yet, it still remains the communicator's responsibility to clarify what the true meaning of the message was in order to ensure accuracy. This responsibility is heightened with leadership and responsibility. The Vicar of Christ has quite the heavy load to bear, and it is no wonder that so few people envy his role. However, we do expect, appreciate, and rely upon the Pope to be clear in his teaching and preaching - both those made authoritatively and those made in conversation. That is simply the role of any leader - whether a CEO, a father, or an Army General. It's lonely at the top, and this is one of the reasons. Everything you say carries with it a special weight that few others have to deal with. Archbishop Chaput put together this article on First Things that clarifies Catholic teachings and, I think, gives Pope Francis the benefit of the doubt while still acknowledging the hurt and confusion that his loose words tend to cause the faithful. Pray for Archbishop Chaput and for Pope Francis! https://lnkd.in/gxdX3W4G

A lady came up to me in tears after my presentation on Friday. And I was extremely moved by what she shared with me. I gave a talk title "Embracing Educator's Cross", which focused on spiritual health being the foundation of mental health and our faith being the best context in which we can handle suffering. She shared with me that she had recently been diagnosed with cancer and had not yet told her staff. She said they were a very close knit community and she was extremely worried about how they would take the news. Furthermore, she was unsure how to lay out the situation within the framework of our shared Catholic faith. She said that my talk gave her the tools to do that. I described how suffering is an inevitable and difficult part of the human experience, but that it can also be sanctifying and redemptive which she said was really helpful for her. She thanked me. I hugged her. And she went on her way. But this exchange really had me thinking all weekend. How many people suffer without purpose, both in and outside of the Church, because they do not know the reality of God's presence in our lives? I often feel like so much of what I share in presentations, podcasts, or even social media posts are obvious truths that any Catholic should know and any reasonable non-Catholic could also eventually come to realize. But I am frequently reminded that this is not the case. When I receive criticism for the things I post, I try to come back to this. While there are many people who know what I know and believe what I believe, there are many more who do not. Sharing our own experiences of suffering, and more broadly our general journey with God, can be immensely powerful for others who find themselves distant from God and suffering alone. Similarly, the truth we've been blessed to come to know over time can be life-changing for others if we have the courage to share it with them. It's not easy to tell people the truth, especially in today's world. Nor is it easy to be vulnerable about our own story. But every time I have, such as this past Friday, I am rewarded with the joy, hope, and peace it brings to my hearers. And that is always worth the discomfort and criticism that sometimes comes along with it. Please say a prayer for this wonderful principal and her staff as they have this hard conversation this week!

“Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.” About the only worthwhile thing Francis Bacon wrote. Read to fill the reservoirs of your heart and mind. Seminar to test your thinking, refine it, and expand your horizon of understanding. Write to reach clarity. There’s nothing quite like putting a thought onto the page to see if it is a thought worth having. #classicalschools #pedagogy

If you do not pray every day, your life will be much harder than it needs to be. I'm representing Hallow at the Mental Health Symposium for the Archdiocese of Omaha today. It's a gathering of over 1,000 educators from their Catholic schools to help them learn about how to strengthen their mental health and that of their students. I was blessed with the opportunity to give a breakout session. I love speaking to Catholic educators because Catholic education completely changed my life. I love to express my gratitude for the great work they do and offer encouragement as they carry their unique burdens and heavy workloads. But there is one message that I always drive home with them: you need to have a strong prayer life. This is true for all of us, but the more prone to burnout, despair, and stress your vocation is, the more essential prayer is for a happy life. You will experience anxiety. You will experience stress. You will experience suffering. And they will all feel 100x worse if you have distanced yourself from God. You cannot have strong mental health if you have weak spiritual health. And you can't have strong spiritual health without a commitment to daily prayer. This is a good reminder for us all. Have you prayed today? If not, take a minute and tell God what you're grateful for from this week!

Should you have religious art in your home and office? When I was a 7-year-old Lutheran boy attending a Catholic school, I had the opportunity to get my parents some gifts for Christmas at a little pop up shop we had during the school day. I bought my Mom a little light up statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I had a deep love for Mary, despite nobody in either side of my family having a devotion to her (or really even believing a devotion to her was a good thing to have). When I saw the statue, my simple 7-year-old mind thought it would be great to have an image of Mary in our home, since she makes me think of the goodness of God. Since my conversion, I've always been perplexed at how little religious art some Catholics keep around them. I'm not saying that we need to make our homes into Cathedrals or have a prayer corner in each room, but to me, keeping an image of Jesus around is just simple math. Scripture tells us to think about good things and to pray without ceasing. What helps you do that more than seeing images of God Himself or images of those who succeeded in doing so while on earth? If you're in a secular work environment, try just having a St. Benedict's medal, rosary, or tiny crucifix in your work space. If you have a private office like me, don't be afraid to deck it out with some holy inspiration! I recently got these icons of Jesus and some of my favorite saints to hang in a gallery wall in my office! Who are some of your favorite saints?? Featured here are: St. Catherine of Siena, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Francis de Sales, St. Thomas More, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Anthony the Great. They were out of the image of Mary and Joseph I wanted, but I'm going to order those when they re-stock!

Has God ever stopped you in your tracks and said, "Who do you think you're talking to?" He has to me (multiple times), but most recently, it happened last night. I was gathered around a fire smoking a Dominican Republic cigar at a friend's house just after sundown. We were continuing our conversation and study of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. We were specifically reading chapters 43-45 - which is when Isaiah drops some of his most 🔥 🔥🔥 stuff. To be honest, I only got through chapters 43 and 44 during my prayer time yesterday. I'm a horrible procrastinator when it comes to doing my Scripture reading for this group as I almost always read it the day of our meeting. When we got to Chapter 45, that's when things got real for me. You see, lately I've been going through some frustrating times. It seems like every time we get ahead in one area of life as a family, some other frustration and setback pops up. We recently got a raise thanks to my generous employers at Hallow, but then found that our Airbnb has a shower leak that will require a total makeover. It's hard to get ahead as it is in this economy while living in a city like Denver and growing a family, but these difficulties seemed to be piling up. My prayer recently has been a lot of venting to God and expressing my anger with these situations, situations I feel God Himself led me to directly. I think it's good to have real, honest conversations with our Lord, but as with all things, when done in excess it can become problematic. This was a theme in our conversation last night, but it hit a pinnacle when we hit Isaiah 45:9-11. It says, "Does the clay say to him who fashions it, 'what are you making?' Or 'Your work has no handles'? Woe to him who says to a father, 'What are you begetting?'. . . Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: 'Will you question me about my children or command me concerning the work of my hands? I made the earth and created man upon it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host" God is working in your life and in mine to make us into the person He created us to be. He does this through our highs AND our lows, through victories and the things that seem like defeat. It's okay, and even good at times, to express your frustration and sufferings to the Lord. But at the end of the day, remember who you are talking to, i.e. the Creator and King of the Universe. He has a plan for you. You can be frustrated with that plan at times, but never doubt in its goodness.

"A spirit of mockery is one of the worst imperfections of the mind, and displeases God greatly, so that He has often punished it most severely. Nothing is more hurtful to charity, and still more to devotion, than contempt and derision of our neighbor, and such is inevitably found in mockery. For this reason, it has been said that mockery is the greatest insult a man can offer his neighbor, inasmuch as in other offenses he does not altogether cease to respect the person whom he offends, but in this he despises and contemns him" -St. Francis de Sales Pray and fast for those who not only mock us, but mock the King of the Universe, Jesus Christ our Lord.

“All community requires sacrifice” I can’t stop thinking about this phrase that my new friend Pete Burak said as I was asking him for fatherhood advice last week at the National Eucharistic Congress. It feels like a key part of the puzzle that I’ve been missing in my family and spiritual life for quite a while. It’s also something that the Congress last week really put into clear focus for me. Being a member of a thriving community is a beautiful experience and a source of joy. Whether it’s a family community, a group of friends, a sports team, or a local church community, connection make everything better. It also requires incredibly hard work. Would it have been easier for my wife not to drive 3 hours with the boys for all 4 of us to share a hotel room after disrupted nap schedules and delayed bed times? 100%. Is it easier to stay home and watch Netflix instead of volunteering to lead ministries at your local church or host intentional faith communities of families for dinner + fellowship? No doubt. But taking the “easy” route leaves us alone, depressed, and aimless. I think this is, in part, what the Revival is about. Our oneness as a church IS the Eucharist. The Eucharist which is made present in the SACRIFICE of the mass. We are only truly a community of Church because of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection, recreated every day on altars across the world. Revival is picking up your cross, dying to self, and finding new life in the body of Christ. Is that hard work? Definitely. Is it the only way to find true peace and true joy. I’m more convinced now than I’ve ever been that it is. Shout out especially to Katie Prejean McGrady, Fr. Mike Schmitz, and Monsignor James P. Shea whose talks have really helped me comes to grips with this.

I got in an hour-long, tense argument with my Pastor last night. And at the end of it, we hugged and said to each other, "we should do this again sometime!" Why can't people disagree anymore? The inability to be candid, transparent, and honest about our positions and opinions GREATLY hinders our communication within families, the workplace, and other important parts of our communal life. Last night after dinner with friends, Fr. Brian, our pastor, said we get to ask him one theological question. He proposed it as though it was the granting of a special wish, but if you know him, you know it would please him just as much (if not more) as us to talk some theology. Immediately, the table turned to me. They assumed I'd have some question to ask - and they were right. I've been wanting to ask Fr. Brian about this for a while, because I know he is a big fan of a theologian who played a big role in popularizing the question, "is it possible that hell is empty?" We proceeded to discuss, debate, and argue about whether hell could be empty, how that would impact evangelization, and what the real definition of love is, among other things. At the pinnacle, we probably both thought the other person was crazy. My wife wanted to leave, but I knew we needed to stay. As we pushed through, we came to the conclusion that we agree on all the most important things, but see a few less critical details quite differently. This is often what happens in honest disagreements. When two sides come together in mutual respect and love to wrestle out a topic, what you'll often find is that you and your spouse/coworker/friend/family member see things a lot more similarly than you may have previously imagined.