08/08/2026
Earlier this week, I was working at my childhood home, power washing sidewalks, a driveway and two patios.
The larger of the two patios sat where, for many years, a swimming pool once did. As I worked, a flood of memories raced through my mind: I remembered making waves with a raft, walking around the perimeter to make a whirlpool, our dog floating on a pool recliner, and reenacting U-boat battles while playing with a remote control submarine.
It all seemed simultaneously so near and yet, considering all the time that had passed since then, so very far away.
Back in the present, as I blasted away years of dirt and moss from those old stones, I was struck by the state of the patio. My sister, her husband, and I had put in that patio 20 plus years ago as an anniversary gift to my parents. The sand base from the pool made our job quite easy. What stood out, was the fact that the base for that patio had been laid 4 decades ago or more. In spite of that, the stones were still level, it hadn’t settled significantly, it still seemed surpringisly sound. The foundation had held.
Similarly, before that pool was put in place, and in the years that followed, my parents were building a different foundation, not a physical one, of course, but a spiritual one. They taught me the importance of having a relationship with Jesus by studying the Bible, attending church each week, and sending me to a Christian school. A better foundation, to be sure, than one made of sand, but would it hold?
As I grew into my teen and college years, so grew in me the pride that I knew better than my parents, better even than God Himself and I began to test that foundation. My, did I try. S*x, drugs, alcohol, two DUIs, and time in jail all took their turn as blow after blow, they tried to destroy what my life had been built upon.
So, did it work?
Well, here I am, at 51, married to the woman of my dreams, with 4 beautiful children, running my own business, while living in a home and property we’ve transformed from a blank canvas into a little piece of paradise, right here in East Prospect.
Tried and tested, the foundation held.
So why tell you all this?
Normally, this is the kind of thing I’d share on my personal page, not a public one. Of all the roles I hold, being mayor doesn’t rank especially high. The only job description is a very vague one provided by the state and oversight comes once every 4 years in the form of an election.
Being a Christian, by contrast, impacts my entire identity and Jesus left a very clear job description for every believer: “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20
In the topsy-turvy world we live in, where feelings rather than reality are permitted to drive behavior, we need Jesus. You, me, and anyone else reading this.
There is a foundation upon which anyone can build their life that will not fade or fail in any way. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is that foundation. What is this Gospel? We enter this world born into sin, as enemies of God, destined for eternity in Hell. But God sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the price of our sin by dying on a cross and rising again providing the ONLY bridge, the only way to be made right with God. Anyone who believes this Gospel, and bears the fruit of their belief, will spend eternity with God, have confidence in this life to face sin, and the power of God in them through His Spirit.
Whoever you are, whatever roles you play, nothing will compare to having a relationship with Jesus.
In the grand scheme of things what you know of me as mayor doesn’t matter at all. What does matter, is that you know the difference Jesus has made in my life and the difference He can make in yours.
If you don’t know Him, I’d love to point you to Him
So why am I sharing all of this with you? I guess you could say I’m just following the orders of my Boss.
