A weekly publication and a permanent archive. Every Monday I publish one true story from my life — one that made me laugh, taught me something, challenged me, or changed the way I see the world. This is where they all live.
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This Week's Story
Featured Monday publicationPersonal Growth
They've become part of the light I carry.
Story № 29
"What's the point of trying to stay alive if we're all going to die anyway?" That's a strange thought for a man who just ran 5.2 miles, but it's one I've been wrestling with lately. At 72 years old, I've been thinking more about death than I care to admit.…
Recent Stories
Family
AudioAll those years, I thought we were watching baseball together. But Dad, you were teaching me how to love.
“Michael! Michael! Come watch the game!” If I had a dollar for every time my father hollered those words, I could probably buy my own…
History
Sometimes you fight for a future you may never get to enjoy.
I've been going to a lot of funerals lately. So many that sometimes it seems like hardly a week passes without hearing that another friend,…
Personal Growth
AudioYou don't have to have a lot of time left to have a lot of life left.
I've had a strange couple of weeks. I've been going home for reunions. Going home for funerals. And I've discovered that those are two…
Lessons from Life
AudioYesterday is already written. Tomorrow is not promised. So choose carefully what you write with today.
I am in an interesting season of life. Maybe you reach a certain age when reunions and funerals begin teaching you some of the same…
The Story Library
Each collection is a curated set of stories on one theme — a place to sit and read for an afternoon, not just scroll a feed.
Lessons From a Lifetime
Ten principles drawn from seven decades — ending with the one that matters most: die empty.
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The Archive
Personal Growth
AudioThey've become part of the light I carry.
"What's the point of trying to stay alive if we're all going to die anyway?" That's a strange thought for a man who just ran 5.2 miles, but…
Family
AudioAll those years, I thought we were watching baseball together. But Dad, you were teaching me how to love.
“Michael! Michael! Come watch the game!” If I had a dollar for every time my father hollered those words, I could probably buy my own…
History
Sometimes you fight for a future you may never get to enjoy.
I've been going to a lot of funerals lately. So many that sometimes it seems like hardly a week passes without hearing that another friend,…
Personal Growth
AudioYou don't have to have a lot of time left to have a lot of life left.
I've had a strange couple of weeks. I've been going home for reunions. Going home for funerals. And I've discovered that those are two…
Lessons from Life
AudioYesterday is already written. Tomorrow is not promised. So choose carefully what you write with today.
I am in an interesting season of life. Maybe you reach a certain age when reunions and funerals begin teaching you some of the same…
Lessons from Life
Sometimes the story that changes your life isn't the one you finally have the courage to tell — it's the one you finally have the courage to hear.
I went back to Leavenworth, Kansas, for my 55th high school reunion thinking I knew the story. After all, I'd been carrying it around for…
Personal Growth
AudioSometimes you don't discover your purpose by looking for something new. You discover it by paying attention to what keeps showing up in your life.
I’m 72 years old, and I think I’ve finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be me. Now, it took me 72 years to…
Business
AudioA leader isn't the person at the point because he can do everything. He's at the point because he knows he can't.
★ Featured Aug 31, 2026
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” — John Quincy Adams I thought I was…
Personal Growth
You can cheat the test, but you can't cheat the lesson.
★ Featured Aug 24, 2026
The other day, I learned that one of my fraternity brothers, Roy Jones, had passed away. When someone from your past dies, it's interesting…
Personal Growth
AudioA rule somebody else gives you is one thing. A standard you give yourself is something else entirely.
★ Featured Aug 24, 2026
I got fired from one job for stealing. Then I went to work for Southwestern Bell and didn't miss a day of work for the next 40 years.…
Running
AudioOld age doesn't begin when your hair turns gray. It begins the day you stop showing up.
★ Featured Aug 10, 2026
The January air was cold enough to make you question your sanity. As I stood at the starting line of the Mansfield Run for Your Heart race,…
Wisdom
AudioPositive people don't have fewer bad days — they keep looking until they find the blessing.
★ Featured Aug 3, 2026
People sometimes ask me how I stay so positive. The truth is, I don't think positive people have fewer bad days than anyone else. We've…
Storytelling
AudioComparison doesn't just steal our joy. Sometimes it steals our participation.
People have been telling me for years that I should sing. Sometimes it's after church. Sometimes it's after a speech. Sometimes it's after…
Wisdom
AudioCourage and wisdom aren't always the same thing — maturity is knowing which battles belong to you.
★ Featured Aug 31, 2026
"Wisdom is knowing the difference between what is worth fighting for and what is worth walking away from." Just the other day I was…
Wisdom
AudioDiscipline is far more dependable than motivation — extraordinary lives are built by ordinary habits repeated with extraordinary faithfulness.
★ Featured Jul 20, 2026
Every morning at six o''clock, my alarm clock and I have the same little disagreement. The alarm says, "Time to get up." My body says, "I…
Family
AudioCourage isn't the absence of fear — it's the willingness to keep moving in spite of it.
★ Featured Sep 7, 2026
“It took me many years to understand what my father was really doing that night.” When I was growing up, we didn't take many vacations.…
Retirement
AudioLive so fully that when your time comes, you die empty — because you gave this life everything you had.
★ Featured Oct 5, 2026
The second Saturday of every month, I attend a Men's Circle. It's one of those places where men can slow down for a couple of hours,…
Personal Growth
AudioYou don't have to be certain — you only have to believe enough to take the next step.
★ Featured Oct 26, 2026
Before 1954, people didn't simply believe that no one had run a four-minute mile. They believed no one *could*. That one little word —…
Business
AudioPeople judge you by what they see, not by what you intend.
★ Featured Nov 2, 2026
I thought I was the perfect employee. I took my breaks exactly on time, ate lunch exactly on time, and went home exactly at five o'clock. I…
Speaking
AudioThe day I started calling myself a speaker wasn't the day my career changed. It was the day my thinking changed. Everything else followed.
★ Featured Sep 14, 2026
During my run this morning, I found myself wondering when I actually became a speaker. It wasn't when I won my first Toastmasters contest.…
Storytelling
AudioWhen you tell a personal story, make someone else the hero.
★ Featured Aug 17, 2026
Over the years I’ve attended countless meetings, conferences, workshops, and speeches. Somewhere along the way—I’m not even sure where…
Running
AudioWe often discover our greatest supply only after making a greater demand on ourselves. Don’t let your first limit become your final destination.
★ Featured Oct 19, 2026
This morning, somewhere around mile three of my run, I found myself back in an economics classroom. Funny how that happens. When you’re…
Personal Growth
AudioMost of our biggest challenges are too overwhelming if we try to tackle them all at once. But almost anything becomes possible when we simply focus on taking one more step.
★ Featured Sep 28, 2026
Every year my nephew, Lemuel, calls with the same invitation. “Uncle Michael, are you coming to Seattle for the stair climb?” I know…
Family
AudioThe values our parents instill become the foundation we build our lives upon—and that foundation carries us farther than talent, luck, or circumstance.
★ Featured Oct 12, 2026
One of the things I can tell you about life is that a good foundation matters. When we look at a building, we admire the architecture, the…
Family
AudioThe things we wish were different about ourselves are often perfectly fine just as they are. Perspective turns embarrassment into gratitude.
★ Featured Sep 21, 2026
When I was a youngster, I spent a lot of time worrying about things I couldn't control. I worried about my height. I worried about my…