YONDER BREAKS

Today is the day after the mid-term elections in 2026. I woke up at 4:30AM, and I'm fairly certain it has nothing to do with nervousness for the state of our government, but rather the coffee I drank at 5PM yesterday when I was getting off work... I haven't had a lot of faith in politics to change much over the years, and so I typically don't put my faith in politicians. As a result, I try not to get terribly worked up over what is happening in our government, though I do try to stay informed. However, when I have taken a deep dive into the information these past few years, I have to admit it does cause me concern. What I have come to realize only recently is that, in politics, as in all things, we need balance . And these past several years, I think we have been out of balance. An excerpt from my book,  All Roads Lead to Dockweiler.  This is about as political as I get... Ask any skater and he or she will tell you that balance is crucial. Just riding on one foot while doi...

I ended this last post with a bit about how we are all (hopefully) moving closer and closer to who God made us to be. A bit more on that... Recently, I finished this book by  Jamie Winship : I first learned about Jamie from one of my best friends, Eric, who had shared some talks he gave about how to hear God's voice . It was massively impactful and I spent the next couple of years listening to anything else Jamie had online (much of which I wrote about ). This guy is a real faith-builder, and certainly has helped increased my faith and what I believe God can and will do. And so when I found out he had written a book , I had to get it! I'll spare you a review (though I would encourage you to check out anything from this guy), but what I wanted to write about is the idea that God, as a Father, has some ideas about who we are meant to be. You could even say he has a plan . "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until th...

Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, but just as it is written, "Things which the eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him." ( 1 Corinthians 2:6-9 ) This verse finds its fulfillment in Christ, as what Jesus did didn't even make sense to the religious people at the time. But I think we could also apply that last verse to our lives in other ways -- God doing things that don't make sense.  For instance, I've prayed a lot about music, as it's felt like a calling , which is why I have even given it a good shot these past ...

I used to be a big gear head when it came to video. I loved cameras and, whatever was new, I was educated on. It was an exciting world to follow as there was always something better coming out, particularly when it came to making digital video look more like movies. Being big into filmmaking at the time, I couldn't get enough of it. Taken while shooting The Shaolin Monk of Chinatown . Photo by Peter Harmon . But then people starting shooting on DSLR cameras with interchangeable lenses, and it kind of shifted the game. Sure, the camera bodies were changing and updating and upgrading, but what has always affected the look of an image the most is the lens . Take an awesome camera with a crappy lens and it still won't look great. Vice versa would at least be an interesting photo, if not something actually good. Years later, I got into music and started investing in production gear. I would say that with a lot of audio gear, the same can be true, particularly in the world of digita...

I think God can and will speak to us often, likely as often as we ask Him . But there are times when it lands different, like a meteorite just plopped down in front of you in your backyard, and you can't help but stand still, speechless and a little dumbfounded.  One such occasion like this for me happened when I was driving, literally on the interchange between the 10 and 405 freeways in Los Angeles (an aside, but I recently saw this great video about why we put "the" in front of freeways in LA, if you're curious). I was shifting from writing screenplays to writing novels at the time, and while absent-mindedly thinking about my "career," or maybe just dreams and hopes for that endeavor, I felt like God said, "let go of that and I'll show you who you really  are." I regret to say that my first reaction was a swift "no," as writing had been quite a large part of my identity as a creative in Los Angeles; but the word was unmistakable ...