Welcome to our site
(And our book and our lives)
It’s our heart. It’s our passion.
Why? You’ll see.
Come on, saddle up. Ride down these trails with us. It’ll be like heading up cattle on a drive. You hit one trail into the thicket, another down a draw, another over the ridge. You gotta find the critters and bring ‘em all together before you can herd them to the feed lot miles away.
Cowboys never drive the herd alone. We need you. You've got ideas, insights, stories, and we need to round them up before we can complete the journey.
Before we head out, let us tell you what's up these trails.
First, the TABS above and the avatars there to your right take you to our MAJOR SECTIONS.
Roll your mouse over the avatars. Clever, eh? For example, if you want to know who we are (“About Us”), click on Saddlemates. About our mission? Try Campfire.
If you're in a hurry 'cause your steed is snortin' and rearin' to ride? Best you head over to the left where we store our PRIMARY ARTICLES. "What's a GF?" and a description of "The Book" are best starter trails. For fun and hearing the heart of our personal story, "The Long Ride" will do it.
Gets lonely on the trail. We’d really like some chatter. We need feedback. Talk to us ! Hit FENCE POSTS to enter Discussion. We'd love for you to Join Up as our way of asking you to join us on the electronic trail ride.
We surely do hope what you read here prompts your own story. Then My Story in FENCE POSTS is really YOUR story. Heritage and legacy touching your life. Father-son stuff. Good and not so much. Inspire, prod, inform, warn. Just briefly now, more when we get back in touch.
Click here for just a tad more to help you understand why we invite you in to our story with the hope you'll find a fresh one of your own.
Yes, your journey as a father—and your fathers' before you—could be a wonderful story if it weren’t for the battle ground your heart lives in.
We, too, have sometimes lost battles because we wage them ill-equipped and alone. And, like you, Gary and Matt fret over the legacy our hearts want for our children in the chaotic would they will, too soon, be asked to lead in. But, we are burdened with our own failures and sad for our fathering re-do's we wish for but seldom get.
We think we’ve fallen on a model that will appeal to you. It offers a potential turning point in your fatherhood. And it’s not new. It’s as old as Abraham. It’s as current as cultures around the world. It’s a journey of heritage, legacy, and wisdom.
This is about older fathers catching on that their sons, now fathers themselves, are still their sons and their obligation as fathers is relaxed some, but is still there; And this is younger fathers overcoming resentments, even deep hurts, for the imperfect fathers they were allotted and noticing the same mistakes of unaided fathering seem to be repeating themselves. Whether pride, “bad chemistry” even utter disdain separates you, we think we’ve got insights that could change your life, his life, as well as those truly precious gifts from Heaven you’ve been assigned to steward.
You’ve already read the books. This is new. "New" in these times and in our culture, anyhow. This trail we’re on, dad and grand dad, is about new bonds between fathers and sons. It's about a fuller, richer anointing from the community of resources that includes the generations honored in most cultures, but too often dismissed in ours.
Dad, being the best dad you can be is your "Job One." You know that. But you limp along. Online groups, sermons, articles help, but not enough. Intuition and native excellence to shape boys and girls for their future, forget it. But alone you ride, and the trail gets longer and harder. You've missed a prime resource, one likely to be very close to you. Think through the alternative. Will yourself--maybe pray yourself--around the barriers and bring one of your own dads in to the task. Matt says it works in his practice that sometime it's electronic, telephonic, or in person; it can all help.
It's a tough one for you, too, Popi, or whatever your family moniker is. This may be about sacrificing long laid plans, even the dreams and rewards of "retirement". In order to truly be there, however far away, and to assure your legacy of living souls, are you willing to restructure whatever you have to? You may need to make choices equal to the reward.
Does "finishing well" lure you in to assessing the treasure you leave behind? How better a finish than lives of legacy, lives of goodness, godliness, and strength with grace that will perpetuate your imprimatur long into the future? As for this Popi, I am counting on looking back from The Gates with a smile, not a tear.
