Some thoughts on my walk tonight....

God's light shines brightest on the darkest days of spiritual winter

My last post on Substack was back in July, when I was celebrating some rays of light in a battle I am fighting in my local community. On my walk tonight, I reflected on how good God is to me and my family, and how His light shines brightly even in times of spiritual winter.

I can trace all of the light, all of the goodness, in my life back to God’s fingertip. I’m married to the strongest, most loyal woman I know. We have been together for more than 25 years and there is absolutely no one on earth I trust more than her. Anyone who knows her will tell you that she is the most loyal friend you could ever have.

My wife and I live in a beautiful part of Pennsylvania, and all of our kids live with us, or close by. We see our college-aged daughters several times a week. We live within a few miles of both sides of our extended family. We see our parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and even the towns we grew up in, on a regular basis. I am a partner in a law firm that is very well-respected locally, and my office is ten minutes from my house. I am doing interesting work helping real people who create jobs in this great country. My clients value and respect my advice, and I admire and respect the work they do.

My family is also blessed to live within a broader community of people who share our Christian faith. We want to live in community with people who share our values and who are seeking to model their lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. Together, and individually, we are pursuing spiritual disciplines and character formation based on Biblical teachings. Our theology is rooted in doctrine that was revealed to the Apostle Paul by Jesus Christ, persuasively articulated in the Epistle to the Christians in Rome around AD 57. Our faith is founded on the Word of God, revealed in dramatic detail from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21.

As I watched the sun fall beneath the trees, I thanked God for all of His light in my life this week. I felt His light in the Tuesday morning prayer gathering at my church, where we prayed for each other, our families, believers worldwide, for our local communities, our leaders, and our neighbors. I saw his light in an impressive guy from my church community, who recently graduated from Liberty University in three and a half years and is preparing to go to law school. Although he came to me for guidance, I left our meeting filled with optimism that strong, Christian men like him are still entering the legal profession.

I experienced the warmth of God’s light in my time with other believers at a multi-generational, multi-racial Bible study in the home of dear friends, and over coffee with my pastor and mentor, who is encouraging me in my spiritual journey. I also witnessed God’s light in a friend who retired as a Senior Chief with Naval Special Warfare Development Group, went on to earn his PhD, and is now doing important work preparing a new generation of leaders.

God’s light was everywhere around me this week.

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As I continued hiking through the snow, I pondered the fact that I was able to deeply experience God’s goodness at the exact same time that I am struggling through the darkness of an exhausting spiritual battle that, at times, severely tests my faith.

I’ve written about this battle elsewhere, and the story has been covered in local and national media outlets. The common thread is God’s providential hand, guiding me through the battle.

An encounter with my local school board earlier this month illustrates the point. I showed up at the meeting to ask some questions about why the school district’s legal fees have grown exponentially over the last few years. Boring, wonky local government stuff. But it was an important part of my effort to build a public record for the state and federal investigators looking into my complaints alleging serious misconduct and violations of law by senior school officials in my community. More on that in a bit.

After I shared my public comment at the meeting, I hung around to listen to my fellow citizens share their concerns. For the next 30 minutes or so, those speakers asked the board (which is responsible for stewarding a $110 million education budget, funded entirely by taxpayers) to answer some questions. A few of those speakers were hardworking retirees troubled by out-of-control government spending and declining performance in our schools. There were also two young speakers, students who school board members invited to speak at the meeting. One of those students shared her thoughts on a “racist play” that almost made its way to the stage in our high school auditorium, while another young lady shared anecdotes that she said represented the “student perspective” on a proposed $120 million middle school building project. It was a boring, local government meeting about things that only matter to people in our community.

But things got interesting when one of those elected officials took his opportunity to speak. A school board member called Jody Allen, whose most recent job was as a “progressive turnout coordinator” during the 2022 election cycle, used his time to patronize the senior citizens who expressed their fears about being forced out of the community, and to thank the student who praised the school board for its swift action in censoring the “racist play.” Then Mr. Allen turned his attention to me.

Video of Mr. Allen’s comment is available on the school district’s YouTube page, so those who are interested can go view it for themselves. My comment begins at about the 19-minute mark and Mr. Allen shares his thoughts at about the 48-minute mark. Long story short, he likened me to Luigi Mangione because he didn’t like my questions. There was nothing in my tone, or any previous incident involving me or anyone else in our small community, that justified any of the purported concerns Mr. Allen said he has for his safety. He just didn’t like my words, so he compared me to a homicidal domestic terrorist and made sure that members of the public understand just how careful he and his fellow school board members have to be around people like me. You know, people who take their time to show up to public meetings and ask questions about the way local public officials exercise the authority voters give them.

At the very next meeting on January 21, another citizen demanded that Mr. Allen apologize to me for his inflammatory insinuation that I was somehow “threatening” him for asking questions. Mr. Allen couldn’t be bothered to apologize.

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So. Back to the unlawful conduct in my school district. Officials in the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the United States Department of Education are currently investigating multiple, documented allegations of serious misconduct and violations of law by senior officials and lawyers in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, which is ranked as one of the top public school districts in Pennsylvania. The school district has admitted, in writing, to violating federal family privacy laws for a period of seven years. Based on that admission alone, state and federal law requires an independent investigation of the documented violations, the destruction of evidence and the threats and retaliation I have endured for pursing my complaint. The wheels of justice turn slowly, but the light grew brighter this week.

God is opening new doors that were nothing more than a distant hope just six months ago. In November, Pennsylvanians elected a new Attorney General named Dave Sunday. Mr. Sunday has spent his entire legal career as a prosecutor, and if he follows through on his pledge to uphold the rule of law, then he will certainly ensure an independent investigation of my complaint.

We also elected a new senator, Dave McCormick, who claimed that defending parental rights would be central to his policy initiatives. If he follows through on his commitment to defend American values and “always stand up for the truth with moral clarity,” then I am certain his staff will facilitate connections with President Trump’s incoming Department of Education.

For his part, President Trump has started to make good on his promise to dismantle the federal bureaucratic state and set right the many wrongs that happened over the last few years. So far, he has pardoned everyone from wrongfully imprisoned right to life advocates to Ross Ulbricht. Just a few days ago, his Justice Department finally dropped all charges against a heroic doctor named Eithan Haim, a whistleblower who exposed child-mutilation occurring in a Texas hospital.

God’s light broke through a lot of the darkness in our country this week.

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My case has been dragging on since 2022, but now I am represented by the Pacific Justice Institute, a public interest law group, that is helping me take this case to court. Former Attorney General Ed Meese serves on PJI’s advisory board, and the PJI team has notched impressive legal victories in state and federal courts across the country. They take on principled battles involving weighty constitutional, civil and religious rights matters. Think of PJI as the conservative, Christian version of what the ACLU claims to be.

Next week, PJI is filing litigation on my behalf against the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the United States Department of Education, seeking a writ of mandamus and injunctive relief compelling those agencies to comply with their legal duties by ensuring a prompt, fair, impartial and independent investigation of my complaint. There is ample state and federal precedent supporting the legal basis for an investigation in my case. So, now it is just a matter of time.

For example, consider the recent investigation in the Central Bucks School District, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which ensued after the ACLU filed a dubious complaint on behalf of a teacher in the school district. That school district commissioned a $1.4 million, taxpayer-funded investigation by a former US Attorney. The investigation resulted in a detailed written report that makes a compelling case that the teacher manufactured the entire ordeal (with some help) as part of a scheme to advance a leftwing political agenda and undermine the Republican majority on the school board - which worked, as Democrats flipped the board in the election immediately following the filing of the ACLU complaint. If you want to read the very long, well documented, investigative report yourself, you will have a tough time finding it online. I had to obtain my copy from the former US Attorney who conducted the investigation. It’s worth asking why that report is so hard to find, especially given how much taxpayers paid for it. (Hint: neither the ACLU nor the Central Bucks school board want the public to see what is in it, especially now.)

You could also review the file on the 2014 investigation into alleged misconduct and violations of law in the Coatesville Area School District, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, which is the same county where my school district is located. If you look into that case, pay particular attention to the role local law enforcement played. The district attorney at that time understood his duty to uphold the rule of law, but his sense of duty is not shared by the most recent district attorney (who is now a state judge) or the current district attorney (whose office will not respond to a preservation notice seeking confirmation that the investigative record and communications will be produced in response to a subpoena).

You might also read about the DEI surveys in the Montana v. Cardona case, which was settled in August 2024 thanks to the dogged work of a mom and lawyer named Patricia Montana and the team at America First Legal. Professor Montana sat for a terrific podcast interview with her colleague Professor Mark Movsesian at St. John’s Law School, where she shared more information about her case. I connected with Professor Montana this week. Another ray of light.

The roadmap is there, and now I just have to wait for the new Attorney General in Pennsylvania, and for the Trump appointees in the Department of Education, to review the public record and compel an independent investigation, which is what the law unquestionably requires.

My experience over the last three years has nearly destroyed what little faith I had left in our government and legal institutions, and the people who control them, so I know I am still going to face delays and denials along the way. But this week I found one state agency that still appears to take its legal duties seriously. This week the Office of Chief Counsel of the Pennsylvania State Police confirmed to me, in writing, that the PSP has preserved all evidence related to the investigation of criminal conduct by certain senior school officials and will produce that evidence in response to a duly issued subpoena. That record includes a formal report, copies of documents, emails (including emails with the district attorney’s office), recordings of interviews with witnesses, and other evidence (such as videos of meetings, etc.). All of this evidence is available in public records in the custody of the Pennsylvania State Police, and it will be there when state and federal investigators finally comply with their legal obligations. Another ray of light, shining through the darkness.

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As I finished my walk tonight, I listened to an interview on the Carousel Podcast, with Substack writer Chris Bray covering the epic failure of government institutions and elected officials in California. Chris has written about my story, and his observations on cultural and institutional decline in our country are outstanding. Chris pulls threads that most observers ignore.

In a Substack piece on Friday, Bray explained difficulties people are facing when trying to reach the White House to express their concerns. He noted that the White House website does not currently allow for the submission of messages, and the White House phone lines are only open for public comment for four hours a day, three days a week (Tuesday through Thursday). That isn’t right, and I hope the White House will fix it right away.

I have personally experienced the same frustrations in my attempts to contact the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General and the office of United States Senator Dave McCormick. Calls go directly to voicemail. Emails, and submissions on their websites, go unacknowledged and unanswered. That isn’t right, either.

The reality is most local, state and federal officials make speaking to them - actually engaging in dialogue with them - nearly impossible. Remember that image of Gavin Newsom being confronted by the mom in California? Citizens who live intimately with the consequences of incompetence, corruption and government failure are left desperately banging on the door, hoping that someone in authority will open up, listen and do something to fix things.

But all of the phone lines are busy right now.

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As I walked in my door and hung-up my dog’s leash, I marveled at how God is using my struggle through this spiritual battle to show me that I can trust Him in every circumstance. He is right here, walking through it with me, just as He always has been.

When I follow the light and goodness in my life, it inevitably leads back to God’s fingertip. Even on the darkest days of winter.