The Keener Way

       Typically, I'm not a short story person. I start writing what I think will be a short story, and it turns into a trilogy. Without fail. But this morning, I came up with an idea, and I think it actually stayed short.   The concept is simple. I know a lot of people who are married, a lot who are dating, a lot who have been in relationships in the past but broke up for whatever reason. Some break up and try again far too soon, without learning and growing from their mistakes, risking breaking again, while others break and then choose to build a wall, convinced that its not worth the pain.   So I wanted to write a little story to illustrate that sometimes, it can take a long time to find your people. Sometimes you think you've found your people, only to realize you've hit a dead end once again. Sometimes your people are the ones who are already around you and you simply need to open your eyes and see them. And perhaps some are simply created to walk the ...

  The scene you are witnessing is a view not dissimilar to what I imagine the Hebrews experienced as they exited the Arabian wilderness and approached the Promised Land. It is, in fact, a view of leaving the Great Sand Dunes National Park and approaching the peaks of the beautiful San Isabel State Forest. I woke up on Tuesday, June 1, 2024, with a very woeful anguish inside, knowing that this was my last day in Colorado. Tomorrow, I would be taking my east-bound roadtrip. Dreaded for being multiple thousand miles, and dreaded for going into later timezones. It would feel significantly longer than coming. Yet that was not today, that was tomorrow. I still had one more day to play hard and adventure fully. And I was going to make the best of it. Assembling a group of four, we first headed to Walmart for a supply of bananas. Why? Don't ask. We simply randomly decided that we needed some bananas, and that's all there was to it. Once our mission was accomplished, we happily munched ...

  The sight you are beholding is the last colors of sunset, lighting up Nipple Mountain, 38 miles northwest of Pueblo, Colorado. It is also not my picture. My phone camera is terrible. Credits go to the hosts that invited me out to Colorado in the first place. At the time of viewing this scene, I assumed this to be Pikes Peak. However, some calculating on Google Earth would later confirm this to be the wrong shape for Pikes Peak, and 14 miles too far south. So how did it come about that I lucked into this breath-taking gorgeous view of our Creator's majesty? It all started when I woke up on Monday, June 10, 2024, on my friends' couch, mildly confused as to what I was doing there. As I started working out the cramps in my neck from being curled up on the couch, I slowly remembered. Massive storm. Flash flooding. Encouraged to sleep on couch instead of trying to get to my campsite. It was early enough that none of my friends were awake yet. I considered driving up to camp and ma...