“The secret of my identity is hidden in the love and mercy of God.” – Thomas Merton Coming Soon to a Location Near You Hey friends, as you likely know, Dr. Mindy Hills and I are offering (free!) monthly gatherings starting in September at the Dominican Center at Marywood on the campus of Aquinas College. The title of our series is “Contemplative Living in Today’s World” and you can register here. On this site, you can also learn more about Mindy and myself. Consider the following blog a...

First, some background. From ages 11 through 16, I worked as a caddie at the Country Club of Jackson. It was a 4-mile, 20-minute bike ride from home. I loved it and poured myself into it, often showing up 4-5 times a week. Considering we had to be there around 6:30 a.m. in the summertime, you could say I was dedicated. With all that teenage testosterone, the setting was a bit like “Lord of the Flies”. There were fights and puffery, along with basketball, penny pitching and ping pong, but...

Australia. The world’s sixth largest country with 27 million people and nearly 3 million square miles of land (about the size of mainland USA). The robust island continent is located in the Indian Ocean nearly 9,800 miles on the other side of the world from Grand Rapids, Michigan and 15-16-hours ahead of the Eastern time zone. It’s wild and wide range of arid deserts, rolling hills, Australian Alps, cliffside beaches, Great Barrier Reef, and lush rainforests are home to unique, iconic fauna...