Stories of fathers and sons are often the stuff of myth and legend. They are universal, and they tend to crack the armor I have carefully built around my heart. They always have. Almost twenty years ago, when I was about 30 years old, I read this in the first chapter of a book by … Continue reading Fathers and Sons →

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram published an editorial on June 18, 2021 responding to the report that the Fort Worth Education Partnership prepared and that I presented to the Fort Worth City Council. Report shows Fort Worth must target low-achieving schools | Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Here is an article in Sunday's Star-Telegram about our Fort Worth Education Partnership report that I delivered to the City Council last week. Fort Worth: Report shows inequities in access to good schools | Fort Worth Star-Telegram

by Jacob Sanchez, Fort Worth ReportJune 8, 2021 Where a student lives in Fort Worth can determine whether they have access to some of the best or worst performing schools in the city, according to a new report from a new education nonprofit. That factor is out of students’ control, but has contributed to forming … Continue reading New education nonprofit’s report reveals citywide school access inequity →

Last year I read a remarkable book on strategy and leadership by Yale professor John Lewis Gaddis called On Grand Strategy. It’s one of the most important books related to leadership I have ever read. Gaddis uses a central metaphorical dichotomy for his analysis: the hedgehog vs. the fox. The ancient Greek poet Archilochus of … Continue reading The Hedgehog and the Fox →

Today is-- or was-- my dad's birthday. April 18. He died about 2.5 years ago from injuries sustained in a car accident. I wanted to remember him today, so here is the eulogy I gave at his memorial service. Good News: A Eulogy for my Dad. I was sitting on the couch with my wife… … Continue reading A Eulogy for my Dad →

There was a fascinating story in this week’s New York Times about the threat of swarms of locusts in Africa and the attempts to limit the damage: As Locusts Swarmed East Africa, This Tech Helped Squash Them - The New York Times (nytimes.com). The desert locust, known to scientists as “Schistocerca Americana, subspecies gregaria,” is a distant … Continue reading The Years of the Locusts →

On this day in 2013 we held the funeral service for a remarkable person, Van Cliburn, at Broadway Baptist Church. Here are my remarks that day. Opening Sentences We have gathered this afternoon in this place of beauty to remember, honor, and celebrate the life of Van Cliburn. As you would expect, Van wanted the … Continue reading Van Cliburn →

Early in the week I finished Barack Obama’s presidential memoir, A Promised Land. Obama really is a good writer. Then I read Rob Bell’s newest book, Everything is Spiritual, which I liked a lot. Bell writes: I’ve had a sense since I was youngthat there’s more going on here, thatthe world is not a cold, … Continue reading What I Read This Week →

To journey without being changedis to be a nomad.To change without journeyingis to be a chameleon.To journey and to be transformedby the journeyis to be a pilgrim.-Mark Nepo, “Being a Pilgrim,” January 30, The Book of Awakening Henri Nouwen writes:When I taught academic courses on the spiritual life, I sometimes drew a long straight line … Continue reading A Journey To and From the Center →