Behind every army is the industry that fuels it. There were several dams positioned within Germany’s Ruhr valley in the 1940s that produced the electricity needed to help power the war effort. By 1942, the British had developed both a plan and the needed technology to blow up these dams thus disrupting the German war production. Engineer Barnes...

I loved my wife’s grandfather. When she was little, sitting at his table, he would wait for her to look away so he could steal a cookie or dump more peas on her plate. He always sat in the same seat and thanked his wife for the food before leaving his chair. There was an old tree behind his house where he would hang gum from the branches. My wife...

We almost missed the birth of Christ because of a dryer vent. We were slotted to leave for my in-laws at 2pm on Christmas Eve. It was after 5pm before we pulled out of the driveway. Our fingers were sliced from cutting aluminum and our spirits were mostly dried up. And the dryer still wasn’t fixed. What is at stake was our joy. Nehemiah said the...

There are a lot of things I'm sure I couldn't do even if I wanted to. One of those things would be to rob a train. I've riden a horse a couple times but never at high speeds. And even if I could run a horse, the transition from horse to a moving train is reaching too far for me. But I did hear a story about a recent train robbery. The assailant...

I knew a man who lived on a hill. His property was covered with metal, tools and trailers and things other men had made. He didn't usually come outside, but stayed in where it was warm. Where the light was weak and where the bottles were stored. I don't know what he thought about in the dim light. Maybe about his dad throwing him into the wall....

It was in men’s bathroom near the trailhead for Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park when I was hit with the profound revelation that we protect what we care about. It came as I studied the long metal arm holding three roles of toilet paper. The arm operated like a lever which was secured in the down position by a large brass pad lock. Never...

I was sitting in my car alone, waiting for my son to finish an appointment. As I stared through the windshield glazed with rain I began to cry. Within a minute the water on the glass and the water in my eyes mixed together and I couldn’t see much. I was thankful for that vehicle as it was a gift from my in-laws. And it had far exceeded the...

There are men who’ve done amazing things in isolation.  Adventurer Aron Ralston took a solo hike through Blue John Canyon and was pinned to the canyon wall when a massive boulder rolled onto his hand. After being trapped for days, he eventually opted to break and amputate his own arm. He survived.  Or go back almost two centuries and...

There was an old weight room at the place I used to work. It was the kind of room that made you feel stronger when you walked in. Cinderblock walls, dirty mirrors that no one bothered to hang and the smell of oxidized metal. When I first found the space I discovered a heavy bag propped up in the corner. After tracking down some reinforced cord...