Canyon Pathways Podcast

Midlife leadership is a canyon, and it's a lonely one. Maybe you're launching something new. Maybe you feel stuck, or you're in conflict at home or at work. Maybe you feel like the only one holding it all together. Whatever it looks like, most men in midlife carry a quiet belief that they are on their own.

In this Field Note episode, Noel Bouché sits with the word "alone." He starts with The Wanderer, an Old English poem about an exile alone on the North Sea, and traces the word back to the Old English al ana: wholly by oneself, without companions. A companion is literally someone you share bread with. Through Psalm 23, Luke 15, and Romans 8, Noel shows why isolation is the predator's oldest tactic, and why a son of a good Father is never truly alone.

Pull up a chair, brother. You're not the only one.

Key takeaways

• Feeling alone is common, and being alone is dangerous. Whether the threat is a physical predator or a spiritual accuser, the aim is the same: separate and isolate.
• You are not alone in feeling alone. The details of your story may be unique, but the larger story is shared. As Todd Filbrun put it after his first retreat: "It's not exact, but it's the same kind of different."
• A companion is someone who breaks bread with you. Isolation means having no one at the table. That's why Canyon Pathways is about setting up tables.
• Loneliness is a lie and rejection a ruse. Like Elisha's servant in 2 Kings 6, we are not surrounded by the enemy. We are surrounded by the mighty ones of God.
• Sons who know they're not alone go find others who think they are. We rest and receive at the Father's table so we can go out and invite and invest in other men.
  
  

Scripture & References

• Psalm 23, Luke 15, Romans 8
• 2 Kings 6:16-17
• John 16:32: "Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me."
• The Wanderer, Old English poem
• Berthold Auerbach: "Being alone when one's belief is firm, is not to be alone."

Coming Up Next

Our spiritual direction team, Sherman Bradley, Jason Lee, and Paul Kimball go deeper on what it means to never be alone as a son.

Resources

• Subscribe so every episode drops right into your feed.
• More field notes: canyonpathways.org/blog
• Bring our table to your inbox — the weekly devotional: canyonpathways.org/meditations
• About Canyon Pathways: https://www.canyonpathways.org/about
• Learn about our retreats: https://www.canyonpathways.org/retreats
• The Heart of Man Film: http://heartofmanmovie.com
• The Canyon Pathways Spotify playlist: https://canyonpathwayspodcast.com/cpspotify
  
  

Produced by the team at Maroon Harpoon LTD. Thank you to our donors who make this venture possible — and thank you, friend, for being part of this Canyon Pathways community as we together live like sons and lead like fathers.

Tables hold some of our best memories and some of our worst. In his recent field note, Noel traced the word back to the Latin tabula, the blank slate where so much of our story gets written. This episode picks up where that essay left off.

Luke gathers three Canyon brothers around a virtual table. Peter talks about a culture that swapped the family table for the drive-thru and ended up with connectivity but very little connection. Andrew shares how a retreat in Spearfish Canyon, with no ask attached, cracked open the door to resting and receiving after fifteen years of being the provider in ministry. Eric, who serves hundreds of meals a day at the Union Gospel Mission in Sioux Falls, explains why he refuses to serve rubber chicken at a retreat, and why his own scarred-up kitchen table is one of the most sacred things in his house.

Along the way they wrestle with what it means to hear the word son as a gift instead of a grade, why Psalm 23 sets the table in the valley and not on the other side of it, and why the table is a place you are sent from, not a place you leave.

Pull up a chair, brother. There's a seat with your name on it.

Scripture and references

• Psalm 23:5: "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies"
• Luke 15: the prodigal son, the father's celebration, and the older brother
• Matthew 26: the Last Supper, a table of correction and love
• Matthew 11:28-30: "Come to me... my burden is light"
• Field Note: Table by Noel Bouché
• Heart of Man (film)
• "Come to the Table" by Sidewalk Prophets

Lines worth sitting with

Resources

• Subscribe so every episode drops right into your feed.
• More field notes: canyonpathways.org/blog
• Bring our table to your inbox — the weekly devotional: canyonpathways.org/meditations
• About Canyon Pathways: https://www.canyonpathways.org/about
• Learn about our retreats: https://www.canyonpathways.org/retreats
• The Heart of Man Film: http://heartofmanmovie.com
• The Canyon Pathways Spotify playlist: https://canyonpathwayspodcast.com/cpspotify
  
  

Produced by the team at Maroon Harpoon LTD. Thank you to our donors who make this venture possible — and thank you, friend, for being part of this Canyon Pathways community as we together live like sons and lead like fathers.

Tables are everywhere in our lives — and we almost never think about them. But when you slow down and look, the most formative moments of your life probably happened at one: the dinner table where something was spoken over you that still echoes, the table you were never invited to, the conference room where something broke, the first date or the last meal before a loss. 

In this field note episode, Canyon Pathways founder Noel Bouché does a deep dive into the word 'table' — tracing it from its simple Germanic and Latin roots (tabula rasa: the blank slate where our story is first written) all the way to the ancient Hebrew word used in Psalm 23, which doesn't just mean a place of gathering. It means to send. That discovery changes everything about what it means to be invited to the Father's table — not merely as a place of refuge when you're exhausted, but as the place where you are seen, fed, named, and sent back out into the journey with purpose and covering. 

Canyon Pathways has thought of everything it does — retreats, spiritual direction, gatherings around the world — as setting tables. This episode is the language behind that instinct, finally pulled together. Whether you're a man who has always felt like a servant trying to earn a seat, or one who has a seat but doesn't feel the sending, this episode offers a new frame. Come to the table. There's always an open seat.

Key takeaways

• Tables are not furniture — they are the setting of our most formative memories, both cherished and wounding, and the place where much of our story has been written on us (traceable to the tabula rasa etymology section of the field note).
• The difference between a servant and a son is a seat at the table — and a son's seat is always reserved, never revoked, even after departure (takeaways section, Luke 15 reference).
• The Hebrew word underlying 'table' in Psalm 23 means 'to send' — the Father's table is not just a place of rest and gathering but of anointing and sending with purpose (field note and third takeaway).
• The wounds written on us at past tables are exactly what the Father is rewriting at his table — the same root word (tabula) connects the blank slate of our minds to the table where new things are spoken and sung over us (second takeaway).
• Sonship is a rhythm, not a destination: gather, rest, receive, be sent — and return (closing reflection in takeaways section).

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome — Live like a son, lead like a father
• 0:31 What this episode is and why the table took five years to name
• 4:00 The Heart of Man film and the seeds of Canyon Pathways
• 7:19 Field note: Table — etymology, memory, wound, and invitation
• 14:26 Takeaway 1 — Tables hold our deepest memories and wounds
• 17:30 Takeaway 2 — Tabula rasa: the blank slate being rewritten at the Father's table
• 21:00 Takeaway 3 — The Hebrew word for 'table' means 'to send'
• 25:13 Closing

Resources

• Subscribe so every episode drops right into your feed.
• More field notes: canyonpathways.org/blog
• Bring our table to your inbox — the weekly devotional: canyonpathways.org/meditations
• About Canyon Pathways: https://www.canyonpathways.org/about
• Learn about our retreats: https://www.canyonpathways.org/retreats
• The Heart of Man Film: http://heartofmanmovie.com
• The Canyon Pathways Spotify playlist: https://canyonpathwayspodcast.com/cpspotify
  
  

Produced by the team at Maroon Harpoon LTD. Thank you to our donors who make this venture possible — and thank you, friend, for being part of this Canyon Pathways community as we together live like sons and lead like fathers.

Three men — Sherman Bradley in Ohio, Paul Kimball in South Dakota, and Jason Lee in Taiwan — each arrived at a Canyon Pathways retreat running on fumes. Paul came ready to serve. Jason came in his own words like 'a plane on fire trying to land with no pilot,' carrying two miscarriages, full-time seminary, full-time ministry, and two kids under three. Sherman came to South Dakota after being promised there would be no snow — and got 20 inches in a day, a power outage, a bobcat rescue up to the chalet, and a word from God he absolutely did not want. The word was 'rest.' He rejected it. It took him two more retreats and years of spiritual direction to understand why that refusal was itself the thing that needed to be seen.

In this episode, the three men unpack what spiritual direction actually is — not therapy, not coaching, not mentorship, not a place where someone tells you what God is saying and you had better listen. More like a fishing guide who knows the lake but says, 'Where do you want to go? Let's discover it together.' They describe the 10-session post-retreat journey Canyon Pathways is now making available to every man who has been through a retreat, walk through the arc from identifying elder-brother patterns to reclaiming sonship to integrating that identity into every part of daily life, and address directly the man whose arms are still folded — the one who says he doesn't 'do that feeling stuff.'

Sherman Bradley, Paul Kimball, and Jason Lee are all now training as spiritual directors and are available to walk with Canyon Pathways brothers in this next phase. If you've been to a retreat and felt the pull to go deeper, this is your invitation. Reach out through the Canyon Pathways website or contact Luke Smith to learn more.

Key takeaways

• Spiritual direction is not therapy, mentorship, coaching, or a place where someone tells you what God is saying — it is a trusted companion listening with you and for you as you bring your life before the Father together (Jason Lee, 00:23:47–00:26:01).
• The elder-brother pattern — striving, isolation, performance, distance from the Father — shows up in marriages, work, parenting, and secret addictions; the first four sessions of the 10-session journey are specifically designed to give men language to name where this pattern lives in their lives (Jason Lee, 00:53:49–00:56:04).
• Investment in spiritual direction is not an expense: when you see yourself as a son, you are not spending — you are receiving what you have already inherited (Sherman Bradley, 00:51:20–00:52:04).
• Reentry after a retreat gets bumpy — and spiritual direction is the designed next step to keep the sonship journey alive when daily life rushes back in (Jason Lee, 00:44:31–00:45:11).
• Canyon Pathways is launching a 10-session spiritual direction journey led by Sherman Bradley, Paul Kimball, and Jason Lee, available remotely and in person for men who have been through a retreat (00:41:54–01:00:30).

Resources

• Subscribe so every episode drops right into your feed.
• More field notes: canyonpathways.org/blog
• Bring our table to your inbox — the weekly devotional: canyonpathways.org/meditations
• About Canyon Pathways: https://www.canyonpathways.org/about
• Learn about our retreats: https://www.canyonpathways.org/retreats
• The Heart of Man Film: http://heartofmanmovie.com
• The Canyon Pathways Spotify playlist: https://canyonpathwayspodcast.com/cpspotify
  
  

Produced by the team at Maroon Harpoon LTD. Thank you to our donors who make this venture possible — and thank you, friend, for being part of this Canyon Pathways community as we together live like sons and lead like fathers.

Most men in midlife leadership have accumulated the tools — executive coaches, counselors, mentors, books. And yet something stays unintegrated. The professional self and the father, the husband, the man of faith never quite come together. In this field note episode, Canyon Pathways founder Noel Bouché introduces spiritual direction: an ancient, relational practice that is at once counter-cultural and deeply relevant to the canyon of midlife leadership.

Noel traces the field note's core definition — spiritual direction as one person walking with another, listening together for what the Spirit of God is doing and saying — and then opens up a personal metaphor from summiting Kilimanjaro. The guide, Charles, didn't choose the mountain or the route. His job was to attend: to watch, to listen, to walk alongside. That image becomes a template for everything spiritual direction is and is not.

Three brothers from the Canyon Pathways community — a commercial pilot, a pastor-attorney, and an IT professional — share their own experiences in brief testimony clips, describing what changed when they entered this kind of relationship. And Noel closes with an invitation: if you've been on a Canyon Pathways retreat and want to go deeper, the spiritual direction pathway is the next step — a 10-session journey into living more fully as a son.

This episode is the field note prelude to a full conversation episode with Sherman Bradley, Jason Lee, and Paul Kimball — men who are now stepping into spiritual director roles within the global Canyon Pathways community. Subscribe so you don't miss it.

Key takeaways

• Spiritual direction is a relational practice — not teaching, not coaching — in which one person walks with another to listen together for what the Spirit of God is doing in that person's life.
• The guide doesn't pick the mountain: a spiritual director doesn't set the agenda or the destination; they attend to you on the journey you are already on.
• Spiritual direction moves at the pace of the Holy Spirit — slower than executive culture, and that slowness is the point, not the problem.
• Men who feel like they are leading everyone but being fathered by no one describe spiritual direction as finally having someone seek with them and listen for them.
• Canyon Pathways offers a 10-session spiritual direction pathway for men who have attended a retreat and want to integrate sonship more deeply into daily life.

Resources

• Subscribe so every episode drops right into your feed.
• More field notes: canyonpathways.org/blog
• Bring our table to your inbox — the weekly devotional: canyonpathways.org/meditations
• About Canyon Pathways: https://www.canyonpathways.org/about
• Learn about our retreats: https://www.canyonpathways.org/retreats
• The Heart of Man Film: http://heartofmanmovie.com
• The Canyon Pathways Spotify playlist: https://canyonpathwayspodcast.com/cpspotify
  
  

Produced by the team at Maroon Harpoon LTD. Thank you to our donors who make this venture possible — and thank you, friend, for being part of this Canyon Pathways community as we together live like sons and lead like fathers.

Kewmars Kazemzadeh grew up in post-revolution Iran in a secular, partly Jewish family — navigating a society where the government was imposing an ideology on a people who had not asked for it. He had no religious upbringing. His first prayer was a teenage bargain with God over a girl who wasn't paying attention to him. What started as a transaction became a conversation — and the conversation, carried on alone for years, became the foundation of a faith that would survive solitary years in Malaysia, being robbed with nothing left, and a grueling season of caring for a father he had never been close to.

Kewmars describes his conversion not as an emotional event but as an intellectual concession: the simplicity of 'do to others as you would have them do to you' showed him depth; the impossibility of 'love your enemy' showed him power. 'Zero possibility for any human being to be able to say that,' he says. 'This is not human.' From that moment he was in — not into religion, but into a relationship with a friend he did not yet know how to name.

This conversation, anchored to the Canyon Pathways word for the episode — confidence — traces how Kewmars's self-confidence gave way to what the host Luke Smith calls Christ-confidence: not certainty about outcomes, but trust in a Father who hears, heals, and provides. The episode covers the Jonah morning that reframed his entire adult life, a decade of solitary faith across two countries, Holy Spirit encounters he did not have categories for until years later, a father's miraculous healing from late-stage Parkinson's, a business idea delivered in a vision, and a dream in which a King told him — against his protest — 'You are my son.' Kewmars closes with a prayer for every man who is walking alone and needs to hear: fear not, God is good, and he cannot disown himself.

Key takeaways

• Confidence built on self is exhausting — Kewmars describes arriving at this realization around 2015: 'I had achieved things that I had planned for, but what bothered me was it was so difficult… maybe the problem was myself, maybe I should not have put my confidence in myself.' The shift to Christ-confidence changed the texture of his life.
• Simplicity and impossibility are both evidence, not obstacles — Kewmars explains why 'treat others as you want to be treated' and 'love your enemy' moved him toward faith rather than away from it: 'If you want to explain something in a way that other people can understand it, you have to have very deep knowledge about it.' And: 'If God is God, it should be impossible.'
• God uses ordinary strangers at turning points — twice in the episode a stranger appears at a moment of need (the Muslim friend who offered a Bible in Iran; the man by the pool in Malaysia who knew of a job). Kewmars reflects: 'The second time now you've had just a random guy show up in your life that's meeting you at a point of need.'
• Sonship can be received before it is understood — Kewmars walked in the confidence and boldness of a son in Iran for nearly two years, telling people about God in a government factory, without knowing the language of sonship, without community, and without having read the Bible. The host notes: 'You were receiving like a son' — and traces this to Kewmars's own answer that receiving had always been the easiest of the three retreat words.
• The dream that names the show's entire mission — Kewmars recounts dreaming of a King whose face he could not see, who said 'You are my son,' and whom he argued with: 'My father is not a king. How can you be my father?' He later shared the dream with a pastor who said: 'The disbelief that showed up in my dream is also the story of all of us. We don't want to believe that we are basically a prince and our father is a king.'

Discussion questions (PDF) — use this episode for personal reflection or with your small group. 

Resources

• Subscribe so every episode drops right into your feed.
• More field notes: canyonpathways.org/blog
• Bring our table to your inbox — the weekly devotional: canyonpathways.org/meditations
• About Canyon Pathways: https://www.canyonpathways.org/about
• Learn about our retreats: https://www.canyonpathways.org/retreats
• The Heart of Man Film: http://heartofmanmovie.com
• The Canyon Pathways Spotify playlist: https://canyonpathwayspodcast.com/cpspotify
  
  

Produced by the team at Maroon Harpoon LTD. Thank you to our donors who make this venture possible — and thank you, friend, for being part of this Canyon Pathways community as we together live like sons and lead like fathers.

Confidence is a tricky thing in midlife leadership. For some of us it's been quietly draining away — through a loss, a reversal, an injury, or pain we've carried a long time. For others it's a newer ache: there was once a confidence tied to our wins, and now a fresh challenge has us rattled. Either way, the higher we climb, the lonelier it can get. We "mask up" for the day, hold it together for everyone around us, and tell ourselves we can't show the cracks.

In this field note, Noel sits with that tension and then does what we love to do here at Canyon Pathways — he goes back to the word itself. Confidence comes from the Latin confidentia: con (with, together) and fidere (to trust). Tucked inside it are the words confide, confidant, fidelity — every one of them about trusting someone outside ourselves. Which turns the whole thing on its head. Confidence, it turns out, is less about belief in ourselves and more about belief in others. Self-confidence may even be a kind of oxymoron.

But to live like a son is to live in abiding confidence — always trusting that we are seen, known, covered, and provided for by a faithful Father who has already prepared a table for us, right here in the valley. That's a confidence the canyon can't take away.

Pull up a chair, brother. We'll stoke the fire while you settle in.


What we explore in this field note

• Why confidence wavers in the canyon — and how the isolation of leadership quietly erodes it
• The word behind the word — confide, confidant, fidelity, fiduciary, and what the Latin root reveals
• The difference between a confidence and a secret — one unites, the other divides
• Three takeaways:
  1. The confidence we usually imagine is born out of individual experience — "I've done it, so I can do it again." But over the years that can curdle from I can into I must, only I can — and that's where the isolation begins.
  2. Confidence is inherently relational. It literally means together-trusting. We were made for the "we will do it," not the lonely "I can."
  3. The deepest confidence is the confidence of sonship — we're not a hired hand whose contract is running out. We're sons and heirs, with a Father who has already prepared the inheritance, and the table.

A line worth sitting with

Scripture & references

• Psalm 23 — the Shepherd, the valley of shadow, the table prepared in the midst of it
• Hebrews 4:16 — "Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace…"
• Epicurus — "We do not so much need the help of our friends as we do the confidence of their help in need."
• Back to the Future — George McFly as the unlikely patron saint of confidence

Coming up next

We're staying with confidence — but moving from the field note to the fire pit. Next episode, Luke Smith sits down with Canyon Pathways brother Kewmars Kazemzadeh for a conversation about his own journey into sonship and how the Father has guided him through his life. You won't want to miss it.

Resources

• Subscribe so every episode drops right into your feed.
• More field notes: canyonpathways.org/blog
• Bring our table to your inbox — the weekly devotional: canyonpathways.org/meditations
• About Canyon Pathways: https://www.canyonpathways.org/about
• Learn about our retreats: https://www.canyonpathways.org/retreats
• The Heart of Man Film: http://heartofmanmovie.com
• The Canyon Pathways Spotify playlist: https://canyonpathwayspodcast.com/cpspotify
  
  

Produced by the team at Maroon Harpoon LTD. Thank you to our donors who make this venture possible — and thank you, friend, for being part of this Canyon Pathways community as we together live like sons and lead like fathers.

What does real progress look like for a man who has already built the business, made the first million, and still felt like it wasn't enough? For J.P. Avekoe — CEO of Hardy Global and co-founder of Rise and Shine Africa, a 240-acre initiative in Togo — that question took decades, three strokes, a failing heart, and a near-fatal motorcycle crash to answer.

In this episode of the Canyon Pathways Podcast, host Luke Smith sits down with J.P. to trace the arc of one of the most remarkable sonship journeys in the CP community. J.P. grew up in Togo not knowing his own mother — raised by his grandmother, he called his mom 'Sister Lily' because that's what the culture taught him, and didn't learn the truth until he was an adult trying to make amends. Before he was born, his mother had heard a voice while sitting in a car on the way to an abortion clinic: don't do this. She stopped the car, fled into a field, and changed the course of both their lives.

Years later, after immigrating to the United States, building an IT consulting firm, and reaching the external markers of success, J.P. found himself living what he describes as 'on borrowed time' — three strokes, a heart crisis, five days in the ICU, and one last push: 13,000 miles on a motorcycle in five weeks, which ended when an 18-wheeler crushed him between cars. A bystander told him afterward: 'I saw you gliding.'

In early 2025, J.P. made a resolution: draw near to God, whatever it takes. That led him to three retreats in three months — a Canyon Pathways retreat in Spearfish, South Dakota; a Tres Dias retreat in East Texas where he received a vision and a calling ('Go build my church'); and a Canyon Pathways retreat in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, where the work of forgiveness began. Along the way, Noel Bouché gave him a word — 'journey' — that he had been writing in his journal without knowing it.

The thread running through all of it: the difference between faith and trust. J.P. had faith his whole life. Trust — the confident expectation that God will fulfill his promises — is what he's learning now, as he prepares to leave America and return to Togo with his wife Lindsay to build a church, a school, and a sustainable agriculture initiative.

Progress, J.P. says, isn't just advancement. It's alignment. And for the man who was told by his own mother 'you messed up my life,' learning that his heavenly Father had claimed him before he was born is the turning point that changes everything.

If you're in a season where the grind feels like Groundhog Day — or you've hit every external marker and still feel hollow — this conversation is for you. Use the discussion questions in the show notes for personal reflection or with your small group.

Key takeaways

• Progress is alignment, not just advancement — J.P. distinguishes between moving forward and moving toward God, and describes this as the central shift in his own life.
• Faith and trust are not the same thing — faith is belief; trust is the confident expectation that God will fulfill his promises. J.P. grew up with faith and is only now learning trust.
• Sonship means receiving what you couldn't earn — J.P.'s story of being claimed by God before birth, rescued repeatedly through near-death experiences, and finally 'coming home' mirrors the prodigal son's return in Luke 15.
• Don't let the metrics define your progress with the Lord — J.P.'s closing prayer addresses men stuck in the grind of external scorekeeping: money, houses, family outcomes. The invitation is to let God's alignment redefine what counts.
• Play your own game — J.P.'s word to his younger self: don't compare. Everybody's time is different. The rules will change, and you will be cheated. Keep doing what you have to do.

Resources

• Subscribe so every episode drops right into your feed.
• More field notes: canyonpathways.org/blog
• Bring our table to your inbox — the weekly devotional: canyonpathways.org/meditations
• About Canyon Pathways: https://www.canyonpathways.org/about
• Learn about our retreats: https://www.canyonpathways.org/retreats
• The Heart of Man Film: http://heartofmanmovie.com
• The Canyon Pathways Spotify playlist: https://canyonpathwayspodcast.com/cpspotify
  
  

Produced by the team at Maroon Harpoon LTD. Thank you to our donors who make this venture possible — and thank you, friend, for being part of this Canyon Pathways community as we together live like sons and lead like fathers.

We all want progress.

We want to feel like we’re moving… like something is changing… like we’re not just stuck.

But midlife has a way of complicating that.

Sometimes it feels like a grind.
Sometimes it feels like we’re going backward.
And sometimes everything looks like it’s moving forward on the outside… while something inside is wearing down.

In this Field Note, we slow down and reconsider what progress actually is—and what it isn’t.

A Thought to Sit With

What This Episode Explores

• The weight of midlife
Responsibility in every direction can leave us feeling stuck, exhausted, and unsure if we’re actually moving forward.

• The illusion of movement
Not every step is progress. It’s possible to stay busy, take action, and still drift further off course.

• The need for reorientation
Real progress isn’t just motion—it’s direction. And for us, that direction is relational.

• Progress as return
Like the younger son, progress begins when we turn back toward the Father—and take one step at a time in that direction.

A Simple Invitation

If things feel stuck right now, don’t overcomplicate it.

• Pause.
• Reorient.
• Take one step toward the Father.

That’s progress.

Reflection Questions

•  Where do you feel stuck or stagnant right now? 
•  Are you moving—or actually moving forward? 
•  What might it look like to reorient toward the Father this week? 

Resources

• Subscribe so every episode drops right into your feed.
• More field notes: canyonpathways.org/blog
• Bring our table to your inbox — the weekly devotional: canyonpathways.org/meditations
• About Canyon Pathways: https://www.canyonpathways.org/about
• Learn about our retreats: https://www.canyonpathways.org/retreats
• The Heart of Man Film: http://heartofmanmovie.com
• The Canyon Pathways Spotify playlist: https://canyonpathwayspodcast.com/cpspotify
  
  

Produced by the team at Maroon Harpoon LTD. Thank you to our donors who make this venture possible — and thank you, friend, for being part of this Canyon Pathways community as we together live like sons and lead like fathers.

Anticipation sits at the center of leadership.

In this episode of the Canyon Pathways Podcast, Sherman Bradley sits down with Aseka Taabu, a Canyon Pathways brother based in Nairobi, Kenya, to explore the Field Note word Anticipation and how it shapes the journey of sonship and leadership.

Anticipation isn’t simply about predicting what might happen next. It’s the posture of reaching forward—seeing what may be coming and preparing both yourself and others for what lies ahead.

As responsibilities increase in midlife, anticipation can begin to shift. What once felt like excitement about the future can slowly become anxiety or a sense of waiting for something to go wrong. Yet the invitation of sonship calls men back into a different posture—one rooted in trust.

In this conversation, Sherman and Aseka reflect on how anticipation shapes leadership, parenting, relationships, and the decisions men carry as they steward influence in their families and communities.

Aseka shares reflections from his own leadership journey in Kenya, offering wisdom on responsibility, preparation, and the importance of remaining grounded in identity as a son while navigating the demands of leadership.

Anticipation, when rooted in sonship, is not about controlling the future—it’s about stepping toward it with faith, wisdom, and clarity.

Key Takeaways

• Anticipation plays a critical role in leadership and decision-making.
• Leaders must learn to anticipate both opportunities and challenges.
• Midlife leadership can shift anticipation from excitement to anxiety if identity isn’t grounded.
• Anticipation allows leaders to prepare others—especially children and teams—for what lies ahead.
• A son approaches the future differently than a servant.
• Healthy anticipation helps leaders navigate uncertainty and guide others through complex seasons.
• Identity as a son restores confidence and hope in how we face the future.

Sound Bites

“Anticipation can make or break leadership.”

“Good leaders anticipate not only threats, but opportunities.”

“Anticipation means reaching into the future and bringing it into the present.”

“Midlife leadership can shift anticipation from excitement to anxiety.”

“A son learns to anticipate with confidence.”

Resources

• Subscribe so every episode drops right into your feed.
• More field notes: canyonpathways.org/blog
• Bring our table to your inbox — the weekly devotional: canyonpathways.org/meditations
• About Canyon Pathways: https://www.canyonpathways.org/about
• Learn about our retreats: https://www.canyonpathways.org/retreats
• The Heart of Man Film: http://heartofmanmovie.com
• The Canyon Pathways Spotify playlist: https://canyonpathwayspodcast.com/cpspotify
  
  

Produced by the team at Maroon Harpoon LTD. Thank you to our donors who make this venture possible — and thank you, friend, for being part of this Canyon Pathways community as we together live like sons and lead like fathers.