Newsletter Archive

What do you believe will bring you the most happiness or fulfillment in this life: Success in a career . . . or loving one person as much as you possibly can?

January 27, 2026

I ended last time by asking, simply, what is the story Good Will Hunting saying to us? How about this? What do you believe will bring you the most happiness and fulfillment in this life? – Success in a career, and the wealth and possibly fame that can accompany this? Is this what makes you…

We are all broken, yet we all can offer something very valuable to someone else, no matter how broken we are.

January 21, 2026

We have been talking about the movie Good Will Hunting, which focuses on the relationship between a young man and his psychotherapist. Some of the best stories I know are about the relationship between two people, one older and one younger, a mentor and a mentee. The mentor is very experienced and has a lot…

Good Will Hunting – or hunting for the good in Will

January 5, 2026

I apologize if last time I became a little too dense or intellectual. I believe it could have been more clear. And I have realized, once again, that it always helps to have an example to use, an anecdote, or even better – a movie!!!! We have been talking about the fact that there are…

The real problem of humanity is just this. As it turns out, there are two worlds, or kingdoms, in this life. Not just one.

December 15, 2025

Last time I mentioned again something that has become very dear to me. It is on the back cover of both of my short story volumes and will be on the back cover of my third, due out in 2026. It is just this: Stories have always been about us, a mirror in which we…

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25

November 28, 2025

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25 Last time I let my mind and heart wander and roam a little,…

Where will stories lead us next?

November 10, 2025

It is hard to believe, but just over two years have gone by since I started writing these newsletters, right after the first Once Upon A Time was released. The very first newsletter was posted on August 15, 2023. There have been forty-seven since, almost two every month. I was advised by folks in the…

What if you never woke up? How would you know the dream was not real?

October 10, 2025

I hope that our conversation of the movie The Matrix over the last several newsletters has opened your eyes more fully to the truth that a story can be about anything, even AI talking control of the whole world, but at its core, still be about something much more central to our lives. From time…

Heaven could finally begin to more fully come back to earth – if each and every one of us was convicted that the biggest charge of our lives is to deal with… our own fallen heart.

September 23, 2025

We have been discussing the movie The Matrix, a story that some Christian folks have noticed over the years because the protagonist, Neo, is “the one who comes to save the world.” But there is much greater, and much deeper, symbolism in this story that was created by two brothers who would never consider themselves…

I have come to believe that the whole of our lives, the whole of faith, really comes down to one question. Which world, at any moment in time, will we choose to believe? Which world will we choose . . . to live in?

September 1, 2025

For the last two newsletters we have been discussing the movie The Matrix. The prophets in the Old Testament told stories to a person in need when the message was particularly important and very difficult to hear. Like Nathan, with David; and Hosea with the people of Israel. It is not easy to accept that…

We have never been fully awake our whole lives, because there was former reality, a former world, and it was destroyed. And we have been living in an alternate one ever since.

August 22, 2025

So, I apologize for stopping so abruptly last time. These newsletters can only be so long. Again, if you have not read my piece on the movie The Matrix, you can download it below. It will take some time, but it will be worth it. There is a great deal of gospel symbolism in this…

Welcome, I'm Sam!

A fellow traveler on this journey we call life and this path we call the Christian faith, wanting to share the incredible things God chose to reveal to me. Stories have always been a mirror in which we can see ourselves, if we only look more closely. We are all like the children of Israel in the wilderness, wanting and needing to establish ourselves in the promised land. Stories can help us to get there, and to flourish there.

I can't wait to get to know you!

Best,
Sam

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