As you receive this, I’m on a plane back to California - Disneyland, to be precise.

People ask me sometimes - half-joking, half-curious - why a 47-year-old deacon keeps going back to Disney. It's a fair question.

The answer has everything to do with thresholds, creativity, Ignatian spirituality, and the men who shaped me before I ever set foot in the parks. It's about what Walt Disney understood instinctively - that the best creative work doesn't exist for self-expression. It exists for invitation.

This one goes deep. I introduce my friend Jacob, talk about "friends in the Lord," and explore what it means to practice a walking Examen through the lands of Disneyland.

If you've ever wondered whether wonder is a spiritual discipline - this is for you.

Read Walking Main Street with Purpose →

Yesterday's post sets up today's. It's about my Grandpa Halbrook, Grandpa Mennerick, my mentors Jim and Bruce, and the seeds others plant in us before we know what they're planting.

My grandfathers and dad inspired me to be "a loving family man." One of those grandfathers said I'd be "a fine businessman." Every one of those seeds landed in my life - but none of them landed the way the planter imagined. That's not rejection. That's completion.

The two posts work together: Tuesday is the backstory. Wednesday is where those seeds are leading.

Read The Seeds that Form Us →

I also wrote about one of my own seeds over the weekend - a name my peers gave me twenty years ago that I'm only now growing into: The Name Before the Work.

Speaking of walking Main Street - this Sunday I'm running it. 13.1 miles through both parks at the Disneyland Half Marathon.

This one's a solo run for me, but I've got more races coming: all three at Springtime Surprise with Andrew and two friends, and all three at Wine & Dine with Thomas later this year.

This whole journey started 18 months ago when Andrew invited me to get healthier. I said yes. That invitation changed everything - and I'm documenting it at runDis Dad for anyone who wants to start running but feels too old, too out of shape, or too far behind to begin.

Tomorrow morning I'll be live from the Expo (assuming I make it with flight delays!) Come hang out, watch me pick up my bib, and see the chaos. Follow runDis Dad on YouTube to catch it.

📖 Carl Jung: "Life Really Does Begin at 40" - Jung on the second half of life as the season for integration and meaning. The first half is about achievement; the second half is about understanding what you actually built. Fits with both posts this week.

📖 John Paul II's Letter to Artists - "Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savor life and to dream of the future." John Paul II wrote this in 1999 to all artists - poets, writers, sculptors, architects, musicians, actors. If "Walking Main Street" resonates with you, this letter will too.

📖 Pope Benedict XVI on Grandparents - "Who does not remember their grandparents? Who can forget their presence and their witness?" Benedict on grandparents as "a treasure which the younger generation should not be denied."

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Readings

Jesus reads from Isaiah in the synagogue, declares the Scripture fulfilled - and his hometown rejects him. "No prophet is accepted in his own native place."

There's something here about whose voice we're willing to hear. The people who knew Jesus longest were the ones who couldn't see what was right in front of them. Familiarity can make us deaf to the very invitation we need most.

#2MinuteHomily:

The seeds planted in us - by mentors, by grandparents, by friends in the Lord - aren't just for us. They're meant to bear fruit for others.

Hit reply and tell me - who are your "friends in the Lord"? The companions who see what you see and sharpen your sense of call? I'd love to hear about them.