Hello, and welcome to Junkyard Wisdom™!

I grew up working in my dad’s junkyard and usually went home with greasy hands. We were big believers in being direct, so I’m going to put all my grease stained cards on the table:

I’m asking you to give me your email address.

To be fair, I’m going to give you mine as well: roy @ junkyardwisdom . com.

Sorry I had to put blanks in that, but I don’t want Russian trolls sending me garbage. Seriously, I do all this stuff myself. I’m not a bot, don’t have an intern, and my adult children are too busy to help. So when you connect with me, it’s actually me. I don’t want to be on some spam list—I hate spam!—and neither do you.

Why do I want your email address? Because I’m guessing you’ll enjoy being part of this Junkyard Wisdom™ community, and help make it better for all of us. I write occasional blog posts, a variety of devotional series throughout the year, a book every now and then, and I’ve even experimented with a podcast. Whatever the format, people say my stuff is refreshing, challenging, and unique. And funny. 

Over on Facebook and other social media channels, I share short posts about faith that are humorous and sometimes deep. Which is fine, but those channels have big limitations. 

If we have each other’s emails, though, we can swap stories, encourage each other, challenge each other, and laugh at who tells the tallest tales or worst puns. I will also let you know about new stuff I have coming out. Oh, and I’ll share the occasional rant, which you might find funny or you might find annoying. Either way, you can email me about it.

Now, greasy hand on heart, I promise never to sell your email. Or rent it. Or put it on Airbnb.

So if you’d like to join the Junkyard Wisdom™ community, I’d love to have you. And if you want to quit at any time, there is an unsubscribe button on everything I send. I might drunkenly cry myself to sleep if you use it, but it’s there if you need it.

Okay, my time is up. Please enter your email in the space below and we can stay connected. Thanks!

–Roy 

Let’s stay in touch!

Subscribe here to stay connected:

Ahem.

I see you’re still here?

Well okay, then I’ll share a bit more from my About page. This will save you all the energy it takes to scroll your mouse over and click the About button.

Junkyard Wisdom™ is my way of sharing about generosity, faith, wealth, poverty, and justice … among many other things. I adopted the tagline “Because Generosity Can Be Messy” to express the blending of my junkyard roots and my interest in generosity. If it confuses you, well that’s okay because it confuses me too sometimes. I like it that way because it forces me to think more deeply and not become content with platitudes.

At its core, Junkyard Wisdom explores the grittiness of authentic faith. It’s about the raw Christianity many of us long for, the kind that isn’t afraid to be totally honest or create a mess along the way. It’s a faith that’s disruptive without being confrontational, one that doesn’t try to erase or ignore tensions. The spiritual life isn’t linear, and sometimes we need to be shocked out of the comfort of our cultural and theological assumptions. Actively wrestling with truth, justice, and love is often chaotic and always uncomfortable, but Junkyard Wisdom operates with transparency, humility, and curiosity. Okay, so to be honest, Junkyard Wisdom TRIES to operate that way. Like the grease and oil-covered dirt of junkyard soil, Junkyard Wisdom isn’t pretty or sanitized. It’s a way of looking at life—of living—that grows out of a grace-filled and authentic faith.

Why call it Junkyard Wisdom™? Because with all due respect to author Robert Fulghum, all I really needed to know I learned in the wrecking yard. My dad always had a wrecking yard when I was growing up and it was a wonderful place of mystery, magic, sweat, pain, and profit. We never called it by the derogatory name “junkyard” but you have to admit calling this blog the “automotive dismantling wisdom center” is bad marketing!

Since starting this site the Junkyard Wisdom world has grown to include trips, books, devotions, and a podcast. It’s been a fun journey!

Anyway, I hope you’ll join me in exploring ways that generosity is messy. Now scroll back up to the Subscribe form and sign up!

Okay. Go. Go sign up. I’m not kidding this time!

Sigh.

Are you seriously still here?

Well, okay, then here’s a bit more.

Did you know I love to read, sometimes 100 books a year? I track them and add one or two sentence reviews to each one on this page. You might find a few you would enjoy.

Oh, and want to see a silly picture of me? On this media page there’s a list of speaking gigs, published articles, and so forth. As you’ll see from the picture, I don’t take it too seriously.

You won’t be around me long before you hear about my love for PathLight and the work they do in Belize.

Since you are learning about Belize, why don’t you go with me? The pandemic knocked us for a loop and this page could use updating, but check it out anyway!

Okay, seriously, shoo! Go sign up for the updates.

Well, unless you have good wine suggestions. Or fun photos of your dog.

No, wait, I need to stop. Go sign up!!!!