My Turnpike Notebook

5.15.24 Last week I watched the movie Fury, about an American tank crew behind the German enemy lines in World War II. The Fury crew was led by Brad Pitt’s character, Don “Wardaddy” Collier. Fury was charged with going from town to town, clearing the area of Nazi soldiers. During one of their treks, the…

1.26.24 Every year I choose a word God puts on my heart to help me have a specific focus. This year my word is TRUST. I’ve learned relationships are dynamic – they don’t stay the same. Over time, you grow closer together or further apart. The same is true for Jesus. Every day we grow…

11.10.23 My friends Jake and Nicki have a sixteen-month-old daughter named Noah. I recently learned that Noah LOVES the new cartoon Grinch movie. Noah’s vocabulary is limited, but she has figured out how to request her favorite holiday flick. The other night she gave her parents the “Groosh” request (her best attempt at the tricky…

9.12.23 Taking a memory or a feeling and putting it into words isn’t easy… but I like trying. Early this past June, a few members of the Marquette Lacrosse staff went to lunch with our friend Kurt. Kurt was sixteen years old and had been battling a terminal illness for a while. We loved Kurt.…

5.17.23 One of the benefits of being a coach is getting the schedule of the higher education system. For example: fall break, where a random Thursday and Friday become off days for students. This past year, our fall break came in late October, on the tail end of arguably the most rigorous stint of the…

3.6.23 Last night I pulled a warm load of laundry out of the dryer. As I went to fold my clothes, I noticed blue stained spots on a handful of my favorite articles of clothing. It turns out, one of my blue Uniball pens was left in one of my pockets and made its way…

1.12.23 It’s hard not to compare ourselves to other people. I know I find myself comparing more than I care to admit. Our world seems to make it pretty easy to compare (take social media for example), but the truth is comparing ourselves to other people never seems to lead us to peace with who…

12.12.22 Leadership is an interesting concept. I’ll use my personal profession of coaching to make my point. As a coach, you have influence on those who you coach, but at the end of the day, you can’t do it for them. It being the workouts, the school work, the film study, the small daily decisions,…

11.27.22 This past Spring, we were in a team building session with Marquette Lacrosse, and the players were asked to share what they appreciated about other members of the team. During that session, one of our Freshman, Will Foster, shared something which has been tattooed on my heart ever since. When it was his turn…

10.29.22 Two weeks ago, I drove about 40 minutes north of Milwaukee to a park on Lake Michigan for a ‘clear my head’ type of drive. I was feeling a little overwhelmed and confused about some things and needed to get away for a bit. I’m sure you know the feeling. When I got to…