My Turnpike Notebook

7.14.22 Father’s Day was about a month ago, and on that particular day I was making a short drive from Connecticut to New Jersey. I was driving in silence and just reflecting about my dad. One of the things that struck me, as I fell victim to the east coast traffic, was that my favorite…

6.17.22 In February of 2016, a woman by the name of Ingrid Williams was driving when an oncoming car, operated by a driver under the influence, hit her head on. The accident took her life. Ingrid was the wife of Monty Williams, the current NBA head coach of the Phoenix Suns. At the funeral, Monty…

6.5.22 One of the reasons I’m confident in the truth of the gospel is because of how often this world unintentionally floods our lives with it. The gospel is laced through the fabric of our world because it’s one message the creator didn’t want us to miss! Shades of the gospel can be found in…

A Lesson From Jared Conners 5.27.22 In the fall of 2018, I joined the University of Virginia coaching staff as a volunteer assistant. One of the players on that team was Jared Conners. Jared was incredibly talented as a lacrosse player, but there was something about him which separated him from other incredibly talented lacrosse…

4.24.22 I am coming down the home stretch of my first year as an employee at Marquette University. What a blessing it has been to be a part of such a wonderful community! One of the four pillars of the Marquette University mission statement is Service. I have been amazed by the way the people…

4.3.22 Last week I was hanging out with my friend Jake, and we were talking over a cigar. (I’ve heard it said that God gave men cigars so they would talk to each other for more than 5 minutes – might be true, ha!) Jake is married and his wife had been out of town…

A Story About Ryan Terefenko 3.18.22 The game of lacrosse has introduced me to some incredible people. One of them is Ryan Terefenko, aka Terry. Terry was a teammate of mine for two years in college, and then I had the privilege of being one of his coaches in his fifth year at Ohio State.…

3.14.22 Last Sunday I walked into church feeling a little beat down – just tired and a little frustrated. Nothing major happened – just had a handful of little things build up throughout the week. Something that didn’t break my way, something from work, something with a relationship, something hanging over my head on my…

3.6.22 I just finished watching jeen-yuhs, the new Kanye West documentary on Netflix. I’m not a massive Kanye fan, but I found the documentary fascinating and enjoyed learning the story of his life. No matter how you feel about Kanye, you can’t deny his work ethic and his belief in himself, especially when no one…

2.20.22 We all long to be trusted. I think our hearts are hard wired to crave a certain level of control and for someone to tell us they trust us to get the job done. It’s empowering! I also believe we long for clarity. To do a great job executing a new assignment, we need…