Tithing Is Killing Our Budget

About 2 months ago, my wife and I received a letter from our pastor, Father (Fr.) Will, asking for money to support the church’s building fund. While we have always believed in our church’s mission, we were already tithing off our gross income and giving a good portion of that…

How One Simple Gesture Made a Big Difference

Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. It was Christmas Eve 2016. My family went to Mass as we always do. After wrestling our boys for an hour, listening as intently as possible to the priest’s homily, and receiving our final blessing, we drove over to Red Robin…

What Do You Do When the Storms Come?

In September 2013, my life was grand. I was a few months into working my dream job as COO and Editor-in-Chief of a startup men’s magazine. We just landed our first cover story on David Backes, captain of the St. Louis Blues, and I found myself standing center ice at…

If You’re Tired and You’re Weary

A couple weeks ago, Alissa and I journeyed with our 3 kids to Seattle for Thanksgiving. Each year we take this trip to spend time with her family. But this was the first year in which we were officially outnumbered. Everything started off great. We survived the wait in the…

What My Wife Taught Me About Generosity

Just about 3 months ago, my daughter was born. With 2 boys already, Alissa and I were officially outnumbered and feeling a little overwhelmed. We were grateful for the amount of support we received from our families. Alissa’s mom in particular helped take care of our boys, cooked us meals…

Have You Ever Lost Confidence in Yourself?

When I started my dream job 4 years ago, I was brimming with confidence. As the Chief Operating Officer and Editor-in-chief of a startup men’s magazine, I knew it was going to be a lot of work. But I had hustled to get there. I was ready for the challenge…

Is It Ok to Set Spiritual Goals?

For the first 16 years of my life, I lived my faith pretty haphazardly. Actually, let me rephrase that. For the first 16 years of my life, my faith basically existed because my mom, God bless her, took me to church every Sunday. That’s probably more accurate. Other than that…

My Struggle with Cynicism

A few years ago, I was struggling with my place in life, despite the fact that everything seemed to be going great. Having entered my thirties and gotten married, my wife and I were filled with joy when our first son was born a year later. Combine this with…