There is a line Christopher uses with couples when he is deciding whether he is the right officiant for their wedding. He tells them he has the toughest job of anyone in the room. He has to be the center of attention without being seen, and he has to do all the talking without being heard. It gets a laugh. But he means every word.

This entry sits with that idea alongside Matthew 6, the passage that doesn't condemn giving but questions the audience. It asks an honest question: when we share stories of kindness, when we encourage others to act, are we teaching or performing? Are we illuminating the path or spotlighting ourselves? That line is worth examining. Quietly. Regularly. Without flinching.

The goal isn't invisibility. It's proper positioning. Let the love shine. Let the kindness become normal. Let the idea outlast the name of the person who shared it.

📖 Read the full Journal entry: https://faithandgoodcourage.com/2026/04/30/center-of-attention/

🎙️ Roadside Notes is a reading series from the Faith and Good Courage Journal, stories of grace, grit, and second chances written and read by Christopher Tuttle, The Route 66 Chaplain.

#FaithAndGoodCourage #faithgoodcourage #Route66Chaplain #ChristopherTuttle #RoadsideWisdom #Rule66 #HealingHighway #KindnessForTheRoad #QuietStrength #TheCompassionDeficit #WitWisdomAndDinerMoments #GraceOnTheGo #route66 #matthew25lives

Most of the time you leave something kind and you never hear what happened next. A note tucked under a sugar dispenser. A tip that was a little more than usual. A quiet prayer in a cracked asphalt parking lot. You walk away and the story moves without you. That is the way it is supposed to work.

This week's entry from the Roadside Notes journal is about a moment I didn't expect. A waitress on Route 66 who recognized me. A note she almost threw away. And a battery that got paid for by grace she couldn't explain. I didn't orchestrate any of it. I just got to hear about it. And that, it turns out, is a gift of its own.

Gratitude reciprocates not because we design it to, but because something received with a thankful heart refuses to stop moving. Sometimes you get to hear a little of the harvest. Not to take credit. Just to stay humble and keep going.

📖 Read the full Journal entry: https://faithandgoodcourage.com/2026/04/23/gratitude-reciprocates

Roadside Notes is a reading series from the Faith and Good Courage Journal, stories of grace, grit, and second chances written and read by Christopher Tuttle, The Route 66 Chaplain.

#FaithAndGoodCourage #faithgoodcourage #Route66Chaplain #ChristopherTuttle #RoadsideWisdom #Rule66 #HealingHighway #KindnessForTheRoad #QuietStrength #TheCompassionDeficit #WitWisdomAndDinerMoments #GraceOnTheGo #route66 #matthew25lives

It started at a cold cement table outside a Dunkin' with a cup of familiar coffee and a head full of heavy things. Bills. Health. The state of the world. The kind of weight that settles in when you sit alone with it long enough. But instead of asking God to fix everything on that list, Christopher bowed his head just to say thank You. Simple. Quiet. No agenda.

When he lifted his head, someone was sitting a few feet away. A man with a worn-haired dog named Pete and a smile that didn't ask for anything. What happened next wasn't planned or dramatic. A donut he couldn't eat. Half a cup of coffee. A few honest words. And then a line that landed like a promise: "Spring is coming, I can feel it."

Gratitude changes what you see. When you stop demanding and start noticing, your eyes adjust. And sometimes what you're holding is exactly what someone else needs.

📖 Read the full Journal entry: https://faithandgoodcourage.com/2026/04/16/spring-is-coming-i-can-feel-it/ 🎙️

Roadside Notes is a reading series from the Faith and Good Courage Journal, stories of grace, grit, and second chances written and read by Christopher Tuttle, The Route 66 Chaplain.

#FaithAndGoodCourage #faithgoodcourage #Route66Chaplain #ChristopherTuttle #RoadsideWisdom #Rule66 #HealingHighway #KindnessForTheRoad #QuietStrength #TheCompassionDeficit #WitWisdomAndDinerMoments #GraceOnTheGo #route66 #matthew25lives

There is a kind of loud that is not confidence. It is defense. Most of us have heard it. Some of us have been it. A man at a diner counter talking about bad breaks and wrong people and what he would do if life would just give him a clean shot. And somewhere in the listening, something familiar starts to stir.

This entry is not about that man. It is about what happens when someone sees through the noise to what is underneath. When grace shows up not because we earned it or asked for it, but because someone knew we needed it before we did.

That is the kind of moment that stays with you long after the coffee goes cold.

📖 Read the full Journal entry: https://faithandgoodcourage.com/2026/04/09/because-he-knew-i-didnt/

🎙️ Roadside Notes is a reading series from the Faith and Good Courage Journal, stories of grace, grit, and second chances written and read by Christopher Tuttle, The Route 66 Chaplain.

#FaithAndGoodCourage #faithgoodcourage #Route66Chaplain #ChristopherTuttle #RoadsideWisdom #Rule66 #HealingHighway #KindnessForTheRoad #QuietStrength #TheCompassionDeficit #WitWisdomAndDinerMoments #GraceOnTheGo #route66 #matthew25lives

It wasn't a strategy or a brand plan. It was a sentence spoken in the front seat of a car on a desert freeway, creosote bloom drifting through a cracked window. Mary said it simply and it landed deeper than any metric ever could. "It's your own devotional and you're just sharing it with others."

This week's Roadside Notes is about what happens when someone else names the calling before you do. It's about faith worked out in ordinary places, not on stages or in polished presentations, but in booths, in cars, and on long stretches of road where the only sound is tires humming against asphalt. Your Own Devotional doesn't require perfection. It requires sincerity.

If you've been waiting for permission to share what you're learning, this one is for you. Your lived faith, imperfect and unfolding, might be exactly what someone else needs to hear today.

📖 Read the full Journal entry: https://faithandgoodcourage.com/2026/04/02/your-own-devotional/

🎙️ Roadside Notes is a reading series from the Faith and Good Courage Journal, stories of grace, grit, and second chances written and read by Christopher Tuttle, The Route 66 Chaplain.

#FaithAndGoodCourage #faithgoodcourage #Route66Chaplain #ChristopherTuttle #RoadsideWisdom #Rule66 #HealingHighway #KindnessForTheRoad #QuietStrength #TheCompassionDeficit #WitWisdomAndDinerMoments #GraceOnTheGo #route66 #matthew25lives

Maybe someone near you is carrying a story they don’t plan to share. Maybe they’re waiting for a reason to speak, or a signal that it’s safe to be heard. In a world that moves fast and talks louder, listening has quietly become one of the most powerful things we can offer.

The Power Of Listening reflects on the courage it takes to slow down, stay present, and create space for another person to matter. You don’t need perfect words. You don’t need a solution. You just need to be there long enough for trust to form. Sometimes a quiet hello, a patient moment, or a simple word of encouragement can become the rope that pulls someone back into the light.

📖 Read the full Journal entry:

https://faithandgoodcourage.com/2026/03/26/the-power-of-listening/

🎙️ Roadside Notes is a reading series from the Faith and Good Courage Journal, stories of grace, grit, and second chances written and read by Christopher Tuttle, The Route 66 Chaplain.

#FaithAndGoodCourage #faithgoodcourage #Route66Chaplain #ChristopherTuttle #RoadsideWisdom #Rule66 #HealingHighway #KindnessForTheRoad #QuietStrength #TheCompassionDeficit #WitWisdomAndDinerMoments #GraceOnTheGo #route66 #matthew25lives

The road has a way of handing us things we didn’t plan for. Some arrive wrapped in joy. Others come disguised as inconvenience, uncertainty, or responsibility we weren’t expecting to carry. But over time, the miles teach a quiet truth: what God places in our hands is rarely accidental.

What God Hands You reflects on the choices we face when life places something unexpected before us. We can resist it, question it, or learn to hold it with faith and humility. Often the very thing we hesitate to accept becomes the place where purpose quietly begins to grow. The road doesn’t always explain the reason, but it does invite us to trust that every moment placed in our care can become part of something meaningful.

📖 Read the full Journal entry:

https://faithandgoodcourage.com/2026/03/19/what-god-hands-you/

🎙️ Roadside Notes is a reading series from the Faith and Good Courage Journal, stories of grace, grit, and second chances written and read by Christopher Tuttle, The Route 66 Chaplain.

#FaithAndGoodCourage #faithgoodcourage #Route66Chaplain #ChristopherTuttle #Matthew25Lives #RoadsideWisdom #Rule66 #HealingHighway #KindnessForTheRoad #QuietStrength #TheCompassionDeficit #WitWisdomAndDinerMoments #GraceOnTheGo #route66

First impressions come quickly. A glance across a room, a look exchanged in passing, a quiet assumption forming before a single word is spoken. But every once in a while the road invites us to slow down and look again.

Seeing Past The Look reflects on the difference between what we see on the surface and the deeper story that often hides just beneath it. Compassion begins when we pause long enough to remember that every face carries a life we cannot fully see. When we choose curiosity instead of judgment, kindness finds room to move, and ordinary encounters can turn into moments of unexpected grace.

📖 Read the full Journal entry:

https://faithandgoodcourage.com/2026/03/12/seeing-past-the-look/

🎙️ Roadside Notes is a reading series from the Faith and Good Courage Journal, stories of grace, grit, and second chances written and read by Christopher Tuttle, The Route 66 Chaplain.

#FaithAndGoodCourage #faithgoodcourage #Route66Chaplain #ChristopherTuttle #RoadsideWisdom #Rule66 #HealingHighway #KindnessForTheRoad #QuietStrength #TheCompassionDeficit #WitWisdomAndDinerMoments #GraceOnTheGo #route66