While many men who suffer from depression feel that somehow, and in some way, they are weak or deficient, I have found it most encouraging to reflect on great men who have suffered from depression. Many men from Scripture, including kings David and Solomon fell prey to it. While for a period of my childhood…
Same Kind of Different as Me
Editor’s note: Now a major motion picture, Same Kind of Different As Me is the remarkable true story of Denver Moore — a modern-day slave, Ron Hall — an international art dealer, and Ron’s wife Debbie — the unlikely woman who bound them together. In the bestselling book, Ron and Denver each give their…
Take Courage
Editor’s note: Bear Grylls is a survivor. You’ve likely seen him on one of his many survival and adventure TV shows, such as Man Vs. Wild, You Vs. Wild, The Island, and Running Wild with Bear Grylls. In his life, Bear has served with British special forces, climbed Everest, crossed the north Atlantic unassisted,…
Becoming a More Kingdom-Minded Man
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. — Paul to the Romans, Romans 12:2 On Friday mornings, I teach men at The Man in the Mirror…
What Will You Do With Your One Extraordinary Life?
I have been teaching as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine Law School for more than a decade. It’s a place filled with bright, ambitious law students, many of whom have had a lot of life break in their direction. I also teach a class at San Quentin State Prison. My class there is filled with…
How Playing Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump led to a Life of Service
Editor’s Note: When actor Gary Sinise took on the role of Lieutenant Dan Taylor for the 1994 film Forrest Gump, he had no idea just how it would change his life forever. Not only did his performance garner an Oscar nomination, but it set Sinise on a new path — one of service on…
Writing a Better Story
Nearly every day in the summer, I take my dog to Westmoreland Park, where she plays in the creek. She runs up and down through the creek bed, diving headlong into the water, chasing ducks. Sometimes when I watch her I think about how good life can be, if we only lose ourselves in our…
A Man’s Deepest Question
The story of Adam’s fall is every man’s story. It is simple and straightforward, almost mythic in its brevity and depth. And so every man comes into the world set up for a loss of heart. Then comes the story we are much more aware of — our own story. Where Adam’s story seems…
Blessed are the Peacemakers
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” —Matthew 5:9 White attending Sunday School as a child, my classmates and I were asked to memorize Bible verses. We began with single verses, and over time worked up to memorizing several verses and entire passages. Among them were Psalm 23, Psalm…
Spend Your Life
On Saturday nights, our family gathers at my parents’ house to eat and laugh and drink to grace. My sisters and their husbands come with their tribes and I with mine. My grandmother, mother to my father, went into the ground on top of a hill two years ago. James Irwin Wilson comes to these…