While on an epic caribou hunt this fall, north of the arctic circle, we followed a curious tip from an old Inuit guide and stumbled upon the North Pole Workshop. There we found The Man himself—Father Christmas—just as warm and inviting as you’d expect, and surprisingly candid. So here it is folks: an And Sons exclusive!

Very few people are fantasizing about heaven. And I get it. C.S. Lewis said you can only hope for what you desire, and frankly, most of our images of “heaven” just aren’t that desirable, so they don’t fill our souls with hope. I’m glad Stasi named it as a crisis of imagination because that is exactly what it is—not a crisis of doctrine, not even of belief, but of imagination. We can’t conceive of it, so we simply don’t think about it. Vague ideas do not awaken fantasies.

How do we interpret circumstances like “open” and “closed” doors? What do they really mean? Because as we are pointing out, simply the open or closed may mean any number of things. Circumstances are simply not enough to tell you what is right. Which brings us to this: How do I interpret what is going on in my life? I’d call that a $6 million question.

Some prayers just happen; they are “the cry of the heart.” No training needed when it comes to this kind of prayer. I’ve uttered it thousands of times. Bet you have, too.Like when the phone rings and the bad news starts to spill and all you can do is say, Father...Father...Father, your heart crying out to God. It’s a good kind of prayer, rising from the deep places in us, often unbidden, always welcome to his loving ears. But I think most folks get stuck there, which is kind of like ending your education somewhere around fourth grade. There is more. 

I think a lion came through last night. Our horses are really amped up this morning, racing back and forth across their paddock, necks arched, tails high, snorting. Something put them on high alert.

By the time we hit adulthood, we’ve probably heard a truckload about following our dreams and “finding God’s will for our lives.” The theme gets rehashed in every graduation speech. It’s been a staple of Oprah for years.

Dan Allender is known to many as an author, psychologist, and founder of The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. We know him as a cigar-loving fly fishing partner and as an early friend of And Sons. We don’t know a more playful, brilliant or beautifully odd man. An hour-long conversation with him is like talking to G.K. Chesterton or maybe even Jesus.

The top-grossing films of every decade share something in common—the battle of good and evil. This is so basic to human instinct and understanding that you can't tell a good story without it. So why do we keep it tucked away in our stories and not let it actually inform our lives? The latest round of school shootings. The terrorist bombings. Hundreds of thousands of young girls disappearing…