About forty feet down, at night, off the coast of Hawaii.
He and Robin dove at night to watch manta rays feed. The animals come up out of the dark toward the light, turn over, and pass close enough that you stop thinking about anything else.
Getting to that point is not spontaneous. It is certification first, then planning, then equipment checks that are boring right up until the moment they are not, then going through with it in conditions where turning back is the reasonable option. The interesting part is at the end of a long stretch of unremarkable preparation, which is also true of a hearing.
Photograph that belongs here: Jesse and Robin in dive gear on the boat off Kona, before the night dive.
Eleven days and about a hundred and ten miles, on foot.
Philmont, in 2018, with his oldest son. Eleven days of carrying everything, at altitude, with a teenager who is old enough to have opinions about the route.
His three sons have each earned Eagle Scout. That is theirs and not his. What it asks of a parent is a long run of Tuesday evenings, drives to places nobody wants to drive to, and being present for the part in the middle where the thing stops being fun and gets finished anyway.
Photograph that belongs here: the two of them on the trail at Philmont in 2018, packs on, mountains behind.
Two basements and two decks, built by hand.
Finished the basements, framed and built the decks. Permits, footings, joist spans, and the part where you discover the wall is not square and have to decide what to do about it.
The practical residue is a vocabulary. He can talk to the electrician, the inspector and the general contractor without anyone performing for anyone, and he can do the same with a chief financial officer an hour later. Both of those conversations go better when the person asking the questions actually understands the answer.
Photograph that belongs here: the second deck, finished, photographed from the yard.
A Master of Divinity, earned while practicing full time.
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Christian Education, finished in 2015, earned while carrying a full litigation practice. A degree taken on top of the day job is a long exercise in doing two things properly rather than one thing comfortably.
The rest of it is ordinary and local. Leading a middle school ministry. Teaching a small group at church. Substitute teaching at his children's school. Five years on the board of Northland Christian School.
Every one of those is a room where you cannot rely on authority to hold attention. Middle schoolers in particular will tell you immediately, and honestly, when an explanation has not landed. That is useful practice for a jury, which is only more polite about it.