He sat down next to me at the counter like he'd done it a thousand times, because he had. Different counter, different state, same stool. He drove cars for dealerships. Picked them up in one place, delivered them somewhere else, and filled the miles in between with diners just like this one. He'd seen enough of this country to stop being surprised by it.

He told me the world had gotten loud. That most people he sat next to anymore were either angry about something or worn down from pretending they weren't. He wasn't complaining. Just reporting. The way a man who has driven every road learns to report. Then he said something I didn't expect. He said he liked my laugh. Said it plain, the way people say things when they actually mean them.

This week's Roadside Notes is about what happens when a stranger pulls off the highway not for the coffee but because something in him needed to see that it was still possible. That a person could move through all of it and still have a light in them. You don't always know what you're giving people when you show up with something genuine in you. Sometimes you're just having coffee. Sometimes you're the answer to a question somebody carried in from the highway and didn't know how to ask. Both can happen on the same Tuesday.

📖 Read the full Journal entry: https://faithandgoodcourage.com/2026/07/02/the-man-who-drove-every-road/

🎙️ Roadside Notes is a reading series from the Faith and Good Courage Journal, stories of grace, grit, and second chances written and read by Christopher Tuttle, The Route 66 Chaplain.

#FaithAndGoodCourage #faithgoodcourage #Route66Chaplain #ChristopherTuttle #RoadsideWisdom #Rule66 #HealingHighway #KindnessForTheRoad #QuietStrength #TheCompassionDeficit #WitWisdomAndDinerMoments #GraceOnTheGo #route66 #matthew25lives

It wasn't a remarkable morning. Coffee. A window seat. The kind of quiet that settles in before the day gets loud. I wasn't looking for anything. I was just there. That's when they pulled in. An older car moving carefully into the handicap space. And then everything slowed down.

He was old. Fragile in the way that men who were once very strong sometimes become. Getting out of that car took everything he had. When he finally stood, he straightened up and adjusted his sweater the way a marine adjusts his dress uniform. Like it mattered. Like he still had somewhere worth showing up to. He retrieved the walker, opened her door, positioned it at just the right angle, and walked her inside. I don't think he saw a single person watching. I don't think it would have changed anything if he had.

This week's Roadside Notes is about what happens when kindness moves before you do. Nobody planned it. Nothing dramatic happened. An old man loved his wife well in a parking lot. A stranger held a door. Two menus got grabbed without thinking. That's all it was. And somehow it was everything. Kindness costs nothing. But what it gives back is something you carry for a long time.

📖 Read the full Journal entry: https://faithandgoodcourage.com/2026/06/25/kindness-costs-nothing/

🎙️ Roadside Notes is a reading series from the Faith and Good Courage Journal, stories of grace, grit, and second chances written and read by Christopher Tuttle, The Route 66 Chaplain.

#FaithAndGoodCourage #faithgoodcourage #Route66Chaplain #ChristopherTuttle #RoadsideWisdom #Rule66 #HealingHighway #KindnessForTheRoad #QuietStrength #TheCompassionDeficit #WitWisdomAndDinerMoments #GraceOnTheGo #route66 #matthew25lives

I wanted the straight shot. Efficient. The kind of drive that gets you somewhere without asking much of you along the way. But I missed the ramp on I-40 just out of Kingman. No signal, no GPS worth trusting, just heat waves and a frontage road that hadn't seen a map update since the Eisenhower administration. That's when I saw him. A kid sitting on the hood of a busted car, flipping a coin like he was in quiet conversation with the universe.

He wasn't flagging anyone down. He wasn't panicking. He was just waiting. And when I pulled over and asked if he needed a ride, he said something I didn't expect. "I don't need a map. I just need a reason." He'd left a bad place and didn't know exactly where he was headed. Only that staying behind was no longer an option.

This week's Roadside Notes is about what happens when you miss the exit and end up exactly where you were supposed to be. Grace doesn't always announce itself with flashing arrows or clear outcomes. Sometimes it shows up as a detour, a kid on the hood of a car, and a coin with no wrong side. This one is for anyone who's ever wondered whether the unplanned turns in life are leading somewhere worth going. They are.

📖 Read the full Journal entry: https://faithandgoodcourage.com/2026/06/18/grace-takes-the-detour/

🎙️ Roadside Notes is a reading series from the Faith and Good Courage Journal, stories of grace, grit, and second chances written and read by Christopher Tuttle, The Route 66 Chaplain.

#FaithAndGoodCourage #faithgoodcourage #Route66Chaplain #ChristopherTuttle #RoadsideWisdom #Rule66 #HealingHighway #KindnessForTheRoad #QuietStrength #TheCompassionDeficit #WitWisdomAndDinerMoments #GraceOnTheGo #route66 #matthew25lives