Sam Miclot

[Pittsburgh Clothing Co. @PGHClothingCo]

Happy Opening Day, Pirates fans!

[Mark C @txsinatrafan]

John Mayer is Dead to me.

[Ben Sasse @BenSasse]

Friends-

This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.

Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do.

I’m blessed with amazing siblings and half-a-dozen buddies that are genuinely brothers. As one of them put it, “Sure, you’re on the clock, but we’re all on the clock.” Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all.

Still, I’ve got less time than I’d prefer. This is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad. I can’t begin to describe how great my people are. During the past year, as we’d temporarily stepped back from public life and built new family rhythms, Melissa and I have grown even closer — and that on top of three decades of the best friend a man could ever have. Seven months ago, Corrie was commissioned into the Air Force and she’s off at instrument and multi-engine rounds of flight school. Last week, Alex kicked butt graduating from college a semester early even while teaching gen chem, organic, and physics (she’s a freak). This summer, 14-year-old Breck started learning to drive. (Okay, we’ve been driving off-book for six years — but now we’ve got paper to make it street-legal.) I couldn’t be more grateful to constantly get to bear-hug this motley crew of sinners and saints.

There’s not a good time to tell your peeps you’re now marching to the beat of a faster drummer — but the season of advent isn’t the worst. As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come.

Not an abstract hope in fanciful human goodness; not hope in vague hallmark-sappy spirituality; not a bootstrapped hope in our own strength (what foolishness is the evaporating-muscle I once prided myself in). Nope — often we lazily say “hope” when what we mean is “optimism.” To be clear, optimism is great, and it’s absolutely necessary, but it’s insufficient. It’s not the kinda thing that holds up when you tell your daughters you’re not going to walk them down the aisle. Nor telling your mom and pops they’re gonna bury their son.

A well-lived life demands more reality — stiffer stuff. That’s why, during advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope — often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears.

Such is the calling of the pilgrim. Those who know ourselves to need a Physician should dang well look forward to enduring beauty and eventual fulfillment. That is, we hope in a real Deliverer — a rescuing God, born at a real time, in a real place. But the eternal city — with foundations and without cancer — is not yet.

Remembering Isaiah’s prophecies of what’s to come doesn’t dull the pain of current sufferings. But it does put it in eternity’s perspective:
“When we've been there 10,000 years…We've no less days to sing God's praise.”

I’ll have more to say. I’m not going down without a fight. One sub-part of God’s grace is found in the jawdropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more. Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived. We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape.

But for now, as our family faces the reality of treatments, but more importantly as we celebrate Christmas, we wish you peace: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned….For to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9).

With great gratitude, and with gravelly-but-hopeful voices,
Ben — and the Sasses

[Sam Miclot @Samuel_Miclot]

@N_Penn10 @DanielOyefusi Fibula…..

[PFT Commenter @PFTCommenter]

Congrats to the Pirates for making a offer. Huge get for Pittsburgh

[Central Catholic Football @PCC_FOOTBALL]

"No other place like it in the City of Pittsburgh" and "ALL "WE ask is EVERYTHING you got"
#MenofCentral #RollVikes

[Sam Miclot @Samuel_Miclot]

@Batumfanclub_ @WPIAL_Insider Seems like Central Catholic was better quality

[Sam Miclot @Samuel_Miclot]

@WPIAL_Insider 6A?

[Connor “Ty Webb” Thompson @TyWebbsBurner]

Potential hot take:

Any black clothing on the golf course other than rain gear is atrocious

[Governor Josh Shapiro @GovernorShapiro]

Neal Shipley and Western PA know how to get it done.

Congrats, Neal — keep making us proud.

[Corey O'Connor @CoreyOConnorPA]

Thank you, Pittsburgh. We built this campaign with and for the people of this city, neighborhood by neighborhood.

I’m proud to be your Democratic nominee for Mayor. I’m ready to get to work, and I’m grateful to have you with me as we take the next steps forward, together.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

#Peace is built in the heart and from the heart, by eliminating pride and vindictiveness. Let us carefully choose our words, for words too, not only weapons, can wound and even kill.

[Collin Rugg @CollinRugg]

NEW: Purdue students demolish the Guinness World Record for fastest Rubik’s cube-solving robot, solving the puzzle cube in just 0.103 seconds, faster than the blink of an eye.

Insane.

The previous record was set by Mitsubishi Electric engineers in 2024 in Japan with a speed of 0.305 seconds.

The team says they can probably go even faster, but the cube is the holdup, considering it will "disintegrate" if they go faster.

They say they had to reconstruct the cube with stronger pieces so it could handle the machine.

[Sam Miclot @Samuel_Miclot]

@bryanbrosgolf Come over and play Fox chapel golf club!

[Sam Miclot @Samuel_Miclot]

@wesleybryangolf Saw you guys are in pittsburgh. If you’d like to play Fox Chapel or Laurel Valley hit me up.

[Sam Miclot @Samuel_Miclot]

@DaleWinslowCFA Fox Chapel! Looks great

[Senator Dave McCormick @SenMcCormickPA]

Duquesne is a pillar in Pennsylvania’s higher education system. I enjoyed a visit this morning with @Duqedu President Gormley, Dean Kauffman, and Joe Rockey. We toured the College of Medicine to see the innovative ways technology is being used to advance healthcare at this teaching hospital.

[Jacob Miclot @JakeDaBadKid]

Insane day. I got promoted to the second degree on my black belt by someone I couldn’t respect more. #tacteam I also promoted my first three black belts. BJJ continues to amaze and open doors for me. Train BJJ and start a hc band. Life lessons

[McNeil @REFLOG18]

Mood