An incredibly scenic drive from Wenatchee to Leavenworth to Lake Wenatchee and back, provided an important lesson on service, and appreciating those who have their eyes on making others better.

When in Wanathchee, visit https://www.arlbergsports.com/.

As the world burns or turns, or whatever we are rapidly sliding towards, the real storm is the one few talk about. We are unmoored. We have created a society that minimizes the things that matter at the expense of the things that don’t matter. We are all complicit.

The great CS Lewis said, "Homemaking is surely in reality the most important work in the world. What do ships, railways, mines, cars, government, etc. exist for except that people may be fed, warmed, and safe in their own homes? The homemaker’s job is one for which all other’s exist."

We now seem to have this backward. A modern reality might be, “Consuming stuff is surely in reality the most important work in the world. What do families exist for except to raise people who will consume and buy this stuff so large corporations and government can be safe in their homes. Consuming stuff is the one thing for which all humans exist.”

Thankfully, each one of us can be a solution. You can be a light to a stormy world. Together we can ride this out and show people another way.

Today, settling in to Olympia, Washington, I explored one of the best city parks you’ll ever stumble upon, Watershed Park. Watershed Park is a 153-acre temperate rain forest public park located in Olympia, Washington that supplied almost all the city's water from privately established wells in the late 1800s. I lost track at the 17th bridge.

Along the trail, I passed by a young man with an Olympia High School sweatshirt. I went back to my youth and couldn’t help but wonder what that cauldron would be like today.

https://www.olympiawa.gov/services/parks___recreation/parks___trails/watershed_park.php

I scanned my apple News app today. It sends me article from over 30 magazines and news sources. There was plenty of:

Building better abs

2 Tests of your golf swing\

Lower your risk of heart disease

3 exercises for a bikini model of 50

Today’s best gear deals

Most effective exercises to reverse aging after 50

Russian propaganda to intimidate the west

Elon Musk puts Twitter deal on hold

The arrest of cardinal zen marks a new low in Hong Kong

Biden Democrats’s inflation mess

How to decorate like a french Beauty magnet

Is it better to rent or buy?

Britney Spears loses her “miracle” baby

New York police respond to Buffalo mass shooting

MSNBC column claims homeschooling is racist

Not much, if anything, on family and faith.

But then I dug a little deeper, and in the Atlantic of all places, I found: “The Key to a good parent-child relationship? Low expectations”:

An improvement, but yet another example of family on a contractual basis, not the fundamental strength of our life.

Want to be a true “radical”? Ready to be a true “punk” and counter-culture?

“We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone. ”

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig

Focus on family, faith, and freedom, and let out your Eagle cry!

Family is your fortress. Don't be afraid to fight for it.

“A life that is without problems may literally be more hopeless than one that always verges on despair.”

Thomas Merton

The tornados that swept through the center of country have left at least 88 dead, over 15,000 structures destroyed or severely damaged, and current estimates on the cost are almost $4 Billion. There was a warning, but in that moment, nowhere to run.

The silent stillness that often come before a storm can make your skin pop as the barometer changes and the storm clouds begin to invade. The silence after the destruction, whether there is actually silence or not, cuts deep and clarifies. All is meaningless, all is temporal, life is priceless and so vulnerable.

Our spiritual life often follows a similar pattern. We are numb to the behaviors that destroy us. We are broken and overcome by fear and despair. We are left in an existential stillness that strips our ego naked and forces us to face all that matters – our relationships, our faith, our momentary existence.

My god, my god, why has thou forsaken me?

Silence

My youth is gone, my despair is total.

Silence

And we ask, where do we go from here?

Might I suggest moments like this give us an opportunity to create a life focused on meaning, simplified by fire, and fulfilled by relationship and depth.

Long talks. Long walks. Good books. Good food. An expulsion of excess and a rejection of the temporal.

What an amazing day of training the NYPD at their magnificent Queens training center.

A warm crowd with officers from incredibly diverse and interesting backgrounds. All of them were motivated to help their fellow officers and families live awesome lives.

A few things I loved about the officers I met:

• Frank and honest
• Proud of their community
• Most grew up there, had family there
• A depth of character
• Thankful and grateful

Great lessons on life that apply to all of us.