Hello, and welcome to Candies Creek! I’m so glad to see you. If you become a free subscriber, you’ll receive my weekly Friday Freestyle, plus occasional updates from me (a few times a month).

If you decide to become a paid subscriber, however, you’ll get much more. Here’s an overview of what you’ll get from your paid subscription.

Notes taken during my local travels.

I like going new places and seeing new things, but I much prefer truly getting to know a place, letting it seep into my bones and blood, and letting my feet sink into its soil until that place and I become part of each other. I leave behind the get-to-know-you, “twenty questions,” part of the relationship and move toward that place where I can predict when it will laugh or cry, where I’ve memorized the wrinkles at the corner of its eyes, and where the quiet is no longer awkward, but welcome.

I write about the small moments I experience in this corner of southeast Tennessee I call home, about what it's like to not only notice something beautiful for the first time, but pay attention to it a thousand times until you begin to understand it.

Reflections from home and hearth.

As much as I love the out of doors–both wild and cultivated–I love coming home more. I enjoy the domestic life, making a home with and for my family, a place of comfort, peace, and safety. A lot of thought and effort go into this pursuit, and it is a worthy one. It’s my hope that the spirit of nurturing and hospitality that I promote in my own home will come through as I write about to live life in my favorite of all places: home.

Appreciation memories.

Appreciation is like packaged joy that you can open up, take out, enjoy, and put back again to be used later. When you or I focus on the good things in our lives–the people we love, the beauty we see around us, the simple pleasures of living a contented life–our mind and body respond as if we’re experiencing those all over again. This is multiplied when we share our memories of appreciation with others, and it stirs up the gift of appreciation in the hearts and minds of those who hear us share.

I need to remember the good things in my life, and I need to share them by telling their stories to other people. And you? You need to hear my stories of appreciation, my memories of joy and peace and comfort. I’m grateful to have you reading and listening. I pray that my joy and yours will continue to increase.

Conversations with God.

All times and places are filled with the presence of God, and so it makes complete sense that a conversation between me and my Creator might happen at any point, for any reason, and devoid of religious cliche. This is a form of “prayer,” if you will, but more of a means of building relationship through increased trust, vulnerability, and intimate love.

The deepest of these conversations won't ever make it onto the pages of this web log–any more than I would publish a love letter to my wife online–but you will get a chance to eavesdrop on some of the things I talk about with the lover of my soul, some of the places we go together, some of the things we do while we’re there.

Church History and the Saints.

As the Apostle’s Creed states, I believe in “the holy catholic Church” and “the communion of saints.” And while, I’d confessed the creed countless times, and always found the history of the Church and its Saints “interesting,” I had left them largely unexplored, until only a few years ago.

God himself, during one of our conversations, invited me to deepen my connection to our 2,000+ year old church and to the Saints who have gone before us, the great “Cloud of Witnesses,” as the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews put it. When you're getting to know someone, He said, one of the ways you learn about that person is by also getting to know their family. Get to know my family better, and you will know me more deeply as well.

And so, as I slowly yet devotedly become acquainted with the family of God, I sometimes write what I learn or who I meet, about the surprises I find along the way, about the very real and sacred connection to God that He is revealing to me through the Church and through the Saints.

Meditations on Scripture

Everything reminds me of scripture, so it's impossible for me to think carefully and deliberately about any aspect of my life without also thinking about passages of scripture that I see as woven into those parts of my life, all of my life, really! It’s a beautifully inspired synergy.

Photography

I've been hauling a camera around in some form or another for about two decades. I quickly fell in love with it, and took all the photography classes in the catalog while I was in college. Taking pictures in artistic and creative endeavor, and I think I do a pretty good job of that, but it's also a form of meditation for me. Most everything I post here will also contain pictures I've taken, and sometimes I'll just put up a series of pictures, like a virtual exhibit.

Delightful randomness.

I am somewhat mercurial when it comes to my interests and hobbies, or the topics I read about. I also have the habit of noticing connections between things that might otherwise seem unrelated. So, sometimes I just decide to go off trail. I hope that sounds like fun!

And more!

Becoming a paid subscriber will also let you listen to the VoiceOver I record for all of my posts, and allow you to read and comment on the full archive of past posts. Plus reader surveys, chatting with the author (me), and more!

I hope you’ll join me as I walk these paths, wade these waters, and stand in awe under this brilliant sky.