What does hope look like?

Nark on Cammelback

Sometimes, it looks like standing on the trail of Camelback Mountain in Arizona—or any place where God’s creation stretches out in front of you.

These thoughts came to me during a recent hike up Camelback Mountain, nestled between the beautiful neighborhoods of Arcadia and Paradise Valley in Phoenix. The name “Camelback” comes from its unmistakable silhouette: rock formations resembling a kneeling camel’s head and hump. From the summit—2,704 feet above sea level—you’re rewarded with a breathtaking panorama of the Phoenix/Scottsdale metro area and the vast desert beyond. It’s a clear and powerful reminder: God is great.

Why does this give me hope? Because we are in the midst of a cultural battle where many no longer see the world as incredible, beautiful, and full of promise. Young people are increasingly choosing not to have children because they believe the world is too broken for future generations. Tragically, they couldn’t be more mistaken. This unhappiness and jadedness are spreading because we’ve forgotten our place in the great drama of life.

Bishop Robert Barron—one of my modern-day heroes—says every person lives inside one of two stories. The “ego-drama” is the small story we create for ourselves: our plans, our agenda, our need for control. But the “theo-drama” is the much larger story God is writing for the world, and He invites each of us to play a unique part in it. Sanctity begins when we stop trying to write our own script and instead embrace the role God has designed for us—because His drama is infinitely more challenging, more meaningful, and more beautiful than anything we could create.

And amid the negativity our 24/7 media feeds us—whether doom-scrolling on social platforms or consuming the endless, misleading headlines of what used to be trustworthy news outlets—we must remember: God and His love for us are bigger than anything we can understand.

So take time to encounter His creation. Get outside. Explore. Appreciate the world that God has created. Get your boots muddy. Breathe deeply. Smile at the simplicity and majesty around you. And remember: you only have a cameo role in His play—so live it well, and live it with hope.

 

OTHERS PLACES TO CONNECT WITH ME

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When Pope John Paul III saw the signs—hatred of Christians, targeted attacks on faith, alliances formed in the shadows—he didn’t call a council. He called warriors. Gideon’s Sword is more than a Vatican op. It’s a lifeline to the Church in America. And Micah Miller—fallen, broken, lethal—is their tip of the spear. There’s no pulpit for what’s coming. Only battlefields. THE FALLEN — Read it before your church burns.

He served God. Then he served man. Now he serves justice.
Micah Miller was a soldier.
Then a priest.
Then, a husband who buried the woman he loved.
Now?
He’s something else entirely.
-Trained by the 75th Ranger Regiment.
-Forged in the crucible of loss.
-Skills perfected on the violent streets of Haiti
-Recruited by the Vatican to fight a war America won’t even admit exists.
They tried to erase the truth.
They tried to burn down the faith.
But they didn’t count on Micah.
Now he leads a covert team into the heart of American darkness—where child mutilation is praised, churches burn in silence, and powerful men hunt the innocent.
THE FALLEN isn’t just a thriller. It’s a warning shot.

President Bearden didn’t steal the White House. He bought it—with the souls of men too weak to say no. Now the puppet masters are pulling strings from behind the curtain, and the last obstacle standing in their way? A fallen priest with a guilty conscience and a Mossad agent who doesn’t forgive. When truth becomes treason, who will you trust? THE FALLEN — Read it before they bury it.

Micah Miller never wanted redemption. Not after burying his wife. Not after walking away from the priesthood. But when the Pope himself calls, you answer.
Now he’s on a mission that will shatter everything he thought he knew—about his Church, his country, and the war being waged behind closed doors.
If you think this is just fiction, think again.
The war on faith has already begun.
Read the book, they’ll say it’s too dangerous to publish.