Hope for when you can't fall apart.

I arrived back at my hotel after a full day of deeply connecting meetings and gatherings in the Arab Gulf, brokenhearted. The symphony of pain that was emanating from the genetic influences of severe arthritis, degenerative disc disease, and stenosis, had crescendoed to an unbelievable level, again, even after having newly recovered from a spinal operation a few months prior, and being released to travel internationally again, and I began to weep—overwhelmed by how to fulfill my purpose, varied roles and responsibilities, and continue to try to keep up with the complexities surrounding the expanding range of needs of our three beloved adopted daughters, with challenges connected with their evolving experience with FASD, ASD, ADHD, ODD, among other factors.

I sat in stillness with an open, tear-spotted Bible, an open journal, and an open heart. God pierced the near suffocating darkness of those moments through the words of Scripture and that night, especially HIS JOY that is available as our strength, through Nehemiah 8:10 and a whimsical image in my mind: Brightly colored socks.

That night, a 'simple man' chose joy as an act of rebellion. Those socks became a daily declaration that God's joy is not contingent on the absence of pain.

Through the years I've sat with executives, administrators, educators, trustees, professors, doctors, entrepreneurs and founders—people who run large things but can't outrun the inner voice that calls them a fraud.

I'm not a guru. I won't sell you a 7‑step miracle or promise to 10x your life. I'm The Way Back Guide™—a man who still wears those socks every day and who has spent 33 years learning that what really keeps us stuck is almost never what we think it is.

If you're carrying something heavier than anyone around you understands, you're in the right place.