Family Fortitude

The game of “stump the Lapin children” was one many innocently played by asking our kids, “What does your father do?” While their friends replied to the same question with, “He’s a lawyer” or “He builds houses” our children stood silent. What did their father do?

The older ones remembered a time when the answer was, “He’s the rabbi of Pacific Jewish Center in Venice, CA,” but after 1992 that became outdated. What did he do now? Well, daddy was writing books, flying around the country giving speeches, hosting a talk-radio show (he even had a recurring guest spot as the Redneck Rabbi on the country music station), teaching Torah, and he was also known as Whitebeard the Pirate, scourge of the Seven Seas. That just delayed the question of what exactly he wrote and spoke about and where his pirate ship was docked. Not easy questions for a seven-year-old – or even a high schooler – to answer. Daddy talked about Torah, politics, culture, money, science, music, and everything else under the sun.

Our books, audio teachings, and video courses reflect the same conundrum. Business Secrets from the Bible, Madam, I’m Adam, and Scrolling through Scripture are all on our shelf. We tried to explain how and why we see all these areas as interconnected in our book The Holistic You: Integrating Your Family, Finances, Faith, Friendships, and Fitness. Nonetheless, we know that someone who hears about my husband from finance guru Dave Ramsey is befuddled when he goes to our website and sees a book on the majesty and mystery of the Hebrew language.

Personally, my Musings face the same challenge. I am passionate about politics and culture, books and education. While I hope that Musings’ readers enjoy the variety it makes it harder to reach beyond our Happy Warrior community and, hopefully, expand any influence I might have. When I realized that I have written over 400 Musings, I decided to conduct an experiment.

I am deeply troubled by the decline of marriage and family today. The effects are and will be felt by nations both economically and socially, but my heart goes out most to individuals setting themselves up for loneliness in years to come. Many are aware that a life devoted only to work is not as fulfilling as they hoped it would be, but they still prioritize career and self-actualization over all else. We hear a great deal about divorce and marriage failure, yet fewer and fewer people are personally familiar with long-lasting, committed, and loving relationships. Many young people are clueless as to what a blessing a marriage and children can be.

For this reason, I have started a blog on Substack. I am adapting some of the many Musings I’ve written on this topic under the heading Family Fortitude. My hope is that people who, for whatever reason, would never consider joining our We Happy Warrior community, will be more receptive to this narrower focus. While WHW members can read the original Musings in their library, as well as the hundreds that will not be repurposed, my prayer is that this blog with its limited scope will find hearts hitherto hidden.

I would love for you to head over to Substack and see if you know individuals who might enjoy my new venture. If you are kind enough to subscribe, that will help Family Fortitude gain traction. While obviously I write from a religiously based conservative perspective, my aim is to try not to be overtly political, as I am in my Musings. Will that extend my reach? We’ll see.

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