AJ Swanson

engaging this life without... ... ... hesitation

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

An honest preacher’s prayer:

Lord, by your Spirit, may your people hear a better sermon than the one I am about to preach.

—@RevKevDeYoung

[AJ Swanson @AtotheJSwanson]

@HauntedCosmos_ Oceans 11

[AJ Swanson @AtotheJSwanson]

@3rdDegreeNet Are there any rumors of a potential Musa transfer?

[Skeletor 🧼🧽🫧 @TheMuppetPastor]

“And we will cause Europe to love us.”

“By fostering good will via diplomacy, sir?”

“No. We will mock them relentlessly and call them “soft and effeminate”. Instead we shall host a children’s game of kicking a ball with your foot.”

“Which will be called football, sir?”

“Soccer. And after charging them large amounts of money to attend a here games, they will fall in love with our food, culture, and hospitality.”

[AJ Swanson @AtotheJSwanson]

@NickGiammusso We were hoping to make just one... we can't even afford that.

[Wendi A. Irlbeck MS, RDN, LD, CISSN @Wendi_Irlbeck]

Youth sports is on life support.

If you think it’s fine, you’re not paying attention.

Kids age 10-12 are playing way too many tournaments and travel ball. Parents treat it like the World Series. They need less travel, more rest, fueling, and actual development. They’re 12 YO.

The data backs it up:
❌70% of kids drop out of organized sports by age 13.
❌Professionalization (year-round single-sport focus, heavy travel/tournaments) drives overuse injuries, overtraining, and burnout.
❌Nearly 1 in 10 youth athletes experience burnout; up to 35% deal with overtraining.
❌Early specialization before 12-13 raises injury and burnout risks significantly.

Multi-sport kids who rest and play for fun stick around longer and develop better.

Let them be kids. Prioritize recovery, fun, and long-term health over trophies. The best athletes often sample multiple sports early and specialize later.

Who else sees this?

[Clint Teeples @TeeplesCY]

"If I told you there was one free thing you could do every Sunday that would make your kids happier, healthier, smarter, and closer to you, you'd think I was selling something."

Take your kids to church regularly. I don't care if you believe. The data is so lopsided that skipping it is the parenting equivalent of refusing vegetables because you don't like the taste.

Grades. Religious teens get As at almost twice the rate of nonreligious teens. In a class of 100, that's 24 A-students instead of 14. Church gives a kid the same academic boost as being born rich instead of poor.

College. Working-class religious kids earn bachelor's degrees at double the rate of their nonreligious peers. Middle-class kids do it at 1.5x the rate. For families without a trust fund, this is one of the most powerful forms of upward mobility social scientists have measured.

Character. Religious teens are far less likely to lie, cheat, or do things they hope their parents never find out about. They're more likely to care about racial equality, the elderly, and the poor. They reject the idea that morality is whatever works for you in the moment. That kind of kid doesn't happen by accident. It's built.

Closeness. 60% of parents of religious teens say they feel "extremely close" to their kid, compared to 50% of nonreligious parents. The kids report the same thing back. They get along better with their parents, talk about hard stuff, and actually want to spend time with their family.

Despair. Religious teens are dramatically less likely to be depressed, anxious, lonely, or feel that life is meaningless. 90% of devoted religious teens never binge drink, compared to 41% of the disengaged. Economists named the modern epidemic "deaths of despair." Regular church attendance is one of the strongest known buffers against it. Parents are spending fortunes trying to solve teen mental health. The most evidence-backed intervention is free.

Purpose. Religious young adults report higher purpose, gratitude, life satisfaction, and resilience. These are the exact traits every parent says they want their kid to have.

Here's why it works. Affluent families already surround their kids with networks of stable, accomplished adults through neighborhoods, schools, and parents' colleagues. Working and middle-class families usually don't. A congregation is often the last institution in American life that puts your kid in weekly contact with dozens of stable, employed, sober adults who know their name. It used to be called "a village." Now it barely exists outside of churches.

"But I don't believe." Your kid doesn't need your theology. They need you to show up.

"But church is boring." So is sitting through a kindergarten music recital. Parenting is the deliberate choice to be bored on purpose for someone you love.

There's a church within 15 minutes of nearly every American home. You don't need money, connections, or credentials to walk in. Nothing else in this country will surround your kid with engaged adults, teach them moral seriousness, and give them a stable weekly rhythm at zero cost.

You already drive them to practices that produce far less. The free thing on Sunday produces more, on more dimensions, than almost anything else you do as a parent.

You don't have to believe anything. You just have to take them.

[AJ Swanson @AtotheJSwanson]

@PewterReport I want this for Scott just as much as I want it for the Bucs!

[AJ Swanson @AtotheJSwanson]

My thoughts exactly

[Alicia de Artola Castillo 🇺🇸🇪🇸 @PenguinOfTroy]

You know what sucks? I thought I’d be so excited for the US World Cup.

Instead every new piece of information that comes out just makes me angry.

Legit would have been cheaper and easier to go to the Qatar World Cup than to go to a game in my backyard.

[Wes Huff @WesleyLHuff]

It’s crazy that @NASA has been releasing such quality photos of the moon. And I don’t want to be *that* guy, but I’ve just noticed some things that I don’t think add up. Let me explain 👇🏼

[Nancy Pearcey @NancyRPearcey]

An award-winning 35-year longitudinal study asked how parents succeed in passing on their religious convictions.

The study found two surprising results:

First, “having a close bond with one’s father matters
even more than a close relationship with one’s mother.”

In other words, fathers wield influence, whether they want to or not.

Second, the relationship with the father must be warm and close. A father can be a leader of the community, a pillar of the church, a moral exemplar, but if he is perceived as cold and distant, the child will not follow him, will not adopt his spiritual and religious convictions.

Here's the study:

[AJ Swanson @AtotheJSwanson]

@drantbradley @prolibertypod In my defense... Lucky Charms were on crazy sale this week.

[Nazanin Nour @NazaninNour]

We cannot allow the media and the world to go back to business as usual.

Please keep talking about Iran.

We owe it to our fallen heroes.

[Neil Stone @DrNeilStone]

The media are losing interest

Politicians are losing interest

Celebrities and influencers never had any interest

We must not

We will not

90 MILLION Iranians are suffering and cut off from the world

Be their voice!!

[AJ Swanson @AtotheJSwanson]

@AdamLivsOn #FireTodd

[AJ Swanson @AtotheJSwanson]

This game is going to devolve into who makes the least amount of mistakes. Bad football. #Bucs

[FC Dallas @FCDallas]

🚨 GIVEAWAY ALERT🚨

We've got 2 codes for Football Manager 26 to give away to keep you busy during the offseason.

Repost this post to enter! 🗳️

[John Spencer @SpencerGuard]

The silence is deafening. Civilian men, women, and children are being slaughtered in Sudan.

Estimates of over 150,000 killed & 14 million displaced since April 2023. Considered the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

No mass protests. No daily political statements/demands. No college campus encampments.

[Derrick Evans @DerrickEvans4WV]

We need more people in America to realize what’s happening to our fellow Christians in Nigeria.

They are being slaughtered & the mainstream media refuses to talk about it.

It’s up to the rest of us to force the conversation.

[BakerMuse @MuseBaker]

71% OF THE EARTH IS COVERED BY WATER

THE REST IS COVERED BY BAKER MAYFIELD