Long gone are the people endlessly checking their cellphone for messages—living life chained to digital devices— and looking over the shoulder to see if the person who just walked in is more important than you. Gone are the endless rules, policies and posturing. And gone is the frenetic pace of life, backstabbing and short tempers….

I watched as the old farmer and young boy tussled with the chain at the fence. The huge John Deere green tractor completely blocking the road was so loud they could not hear our little Italian green Fiat. Still tempted to blow the horn as Remy’s barking heightened to a frenzy, the epiphany became a…

I watch the ripples change their size But never leave the stream Of warm impermanence So the days float through my eyes But still the days seem the same And these children that you spit on As they try to change their worlds Are immune to your consultations They’re quite aware of what they’re goin’…

Gina and I spent the better part of a day last week walking the perimeter of our new farm. We have decided to call it BeauChamp Farm at Kalien. It was a distance of almost two miles through a verdant and mature forest, across rocky streams, atop a soft moss-covered ridge, and along a stacked…

Warning: These letters are unexpurgated. Sometimes a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. I heard that a lot growing up in the Appalachians. A little boy, all innocence and fluff—sitting around an ancient coal stove with men who could remember when it (and they) was new—both human and utility spewing, ruminating and smelling…

DVD $14.95 Introductory Special $9.95 (plus $2.95 Shipping) A powerful and thought provoking 30 minute “signature” talk by Randy Elrod filmed on location by Mellowtown Productions at the breathtaking Burgess Falls State Park in Tennessee. Digital Only on Vimeo ($6.95)

The recipe was originally written in otherwise unknown characters referred to as “reformed Italian” engraved on Versace plates. The last chef to contribute to the book, a transgender named Marcella Keller, buried it in a vineyard in present-day Italy, then returned to Napa, California in 1978 as an angel investor, who later revealed the details of the recipe to me, and instructed me to translate it into…

Into the Woods I want to build a cabin deep in the woods on the northern slope of a verdant meadow, to hear the wind speak to me, catch the sun as it falls in the sky, watch falling stars and the milky way, in ultra high-def. Where I can find my soul, chase my dreams, lose…

On May 1, 2015 I will be fifty-seven years old. I’m sure the year 1958—my birth year—seems like an eternity past to the majority of my social network friends and readers. Most of my contemporaries (those old fogies!) continue to scoff and ridicule blogs and Twitter. However, they have finally joined Facebook full force to…

The holidays seem to always provide times of reflection and nostalgia. Some intensely sad and some precious and sweet. As I sat yesterday morning in a seat among throngs of people thrilling to the amazing talent and thorough preparation of Melissa Greene and her team at the Christmas musicale at Gracepointe Church in Franklin, TN…

I’ve often said, “Manners are such a little thing when you have them, and such a big thing when you don’t.” The world has changed. Business Insider says that we now view our digital devices longer each day than television. Twitter and Facebook have larger valuations than Comcast and Viacom and messaging and email have…

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The danger of questioning God is that we don’t question God. To paraphrase something I once heard, “God is big enough to know that in our desperate search for answers–that at the end of our quest for truth we will land safely once again in his arms.” There is something infinitely comforting about those words….

We are mysteries to ourselves. We know more about current events, our Facebook friends, and our pets than we know about ourselves. May I introduce you to yourself? I think if you get to know you—you will really, really like what you find. But we’ve been lied to by religion and told: “to deny ourselves,”…

The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed. —Ernest Hemingway Hemingway vividly describes many of us in the quote above. Highly sensitive people. Empaths. Creatives. Artists. Wounded souls. Have…

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Have you ever felt lonely because you don’t have many real friends who get you, you feel tired and alone, and you tend to disconnect? Lose the loneliness, emptiness and isolation FIRST and a healthy and yes, meaningful life won’t be an issue. Getting out of your comfort zone and attending re:Create is a great way to SAFELY MEET…

I’m currently reading a fascinating book called The Longevity Project by two articulate Ph.D’s, Howard S. Friedman and Leslie R. Martin. The premise is that for years we have been told to obsessively monitor when we’re angry, what we eat, how much we worry, and how often we go to the gym. So, it begs the question, why…