THe Front Porch Diaries

05/28/2025

Fire Into Flame - by Daniel "D.J." Kiewel
Wednesday, May 28, 2025

“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world,” - Robin Williams
Normally I’m a man of many words, but the past few years the inkwell has run nearly dry.
So much so, in picking up the pen again, I’m not sure where to start.
For as long as I can remember, words have been my passion. They’ve been my tool to give others a window into my world, to give a voice to my heart. Words have been my tears when I hurt, my laughter in joy, and, at times, my fire in pain.
When I made a career as a writer, I told countless peoples’ stories, and was invited into so many homes. It is a treasure that so many extended me the trust to allow me into their lives and hearts to be able to share their stories.
There was always joy in this humble trust, but too often, I neglected to tell my own.
But, for the most part, since I transitioned into a new career in education three years ago, other than projects and research papers for school, my pen has fallen silent. After so long writing for a living and for academics, the fire turned to a flicker, and on some level, I forgot how to truly express my own heart through writing.
But one of the wonders of my new career is a new appreciation of the power of words to change the world with even the most seemingly simple conversations.
When we teach a kid to read, we do not - or should not - stop at teaching them simply what they look like on the page, or even simply their definitions. We should, indeed, teach students how words can be crafted for good or ill.
Kids still need to understand the art of crafting words into a masterpiece, even in a simple sentence which becomes the burst of radiance into a gloomy heart and downtrodden mind. Somewhere along the line, I forgot what an awesome gift it can be to be able craft words in this way.
Words, indeed, can be as much a work of art as the Mona Lisa or the roof of the Sistine Chapel. Without a single stroke of color, but with well chosen words, we can paint the striking beauty of a sunset sky into the dusk of someone’s pain.
Words also tell stories; and I believe each of us has a story worth telling, no matter how mundane we think that story may be. Words express our emotions, bring our dreams to the world, and often, pour out our deepest hurts. Each of these enrich our world, even in the pain. The journeys we share can give someone else the courage to face the unbearable, to get up when life knocks us out.
This summer, I want to grasp the ember that once inspired my craft, and fan the glowing coal back into a flame. If those words lift even one downtrodden heart, then the journey will have been worthwhile.
“If even one life has breathed easier because I have lived, then that is to have succeeded.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Stay tuned…

05/28/2024

You could say I'm passionate about, and proud of, my adopted home!

There’s more beauty in our state than meets the eye…

05/25/2024

Playing with perspectives and filters on photography...

05/21/2024

Just putting out feelers here...if, as a family, we were to develop a website showcasing family-produced art (i.e., drawing, photography, coloring, diamond art, etc.), showcasing life in rural Kansas through an artistic lens, producing art-based home decor and household products, would there be interest in that? Art is a family passion of ours, all three of us, and we are equally passionate about life in rural Kansas. I have some beginning ideas, but want to know if there would be any interest/market for this...

05/21/2024

Artists at work!! Construction in progress, stay tuned!....

12/27/2022

A new piece of the family project takes shape...

12/27/2022

Look Deeper
By Daniel “D.J.” Kiewel
Tuesday, December 27, 2022

If someone asked you to describe yourself, what words would you use?
Chances are, most would define themselves using a career, a hobby, or their role in the family. While all of these are most likely accurate descriptions - to a point - the truth of who we are is infinitely more complex.
In the song, “I’m a Believer,” Christian rapper, Trip Lee (yes, I’m a middle-aged, gray haired man who listens to rap music) opines, “Some might know me as a rapper some might know me as a southern dude/
Others as a black man, but first I got another crew/Ever since I heard the Gospel message how the Son was bruised,/I got a new identity, it’s like your boy’s another dude.”
His point, I think? How often do we try to boil our identities down to basic labels when we have a Creator whose design for us doesn’t fit into an nice, neat boxes.
David says it this way in Psalm 139:14-15: “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”
I love the words “intracately woven.” Made in His image, we are created with far more complex beautuy than we can possibly fathom.
I look at my seven year-old daughter, Makenzie, for example.
She’s a dash of scientist, a pinch of artist, a cup of baker, a couple teaspoons of bookworm. She loves nature and puzzles, and says she wants to be a doctor. She digs in the mud and loves to do makeup and plays with dolls. Most of all though, she’s energetic, spirited and fiercely independent, with a deeply compassionate and outgoing heart.
There is no one label that describes her, and my prayer as a father is that she never places one on herself. Heaven knows I spent too much of my own life doing just that to myself.
Yes, I’m a husband and a dad. Yes, I’m a teaching assistant. But I’m also a bit of a writer, a chef, an artist, a runner and a designer. I’m at the same time intensely logical and, admittedley flighty and absent-minded. I can lose a set of keys in under five minutes.
If we are truly reflections of the image of a magnificent Creator, as I truly believe we are, then we are far more than one - or even a few - labels. We are more than a collection of cells and neurons, more than just strands of DNA. Jesus said (Matthew 6:26), “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
We are each people, with different faces, different passions, different careers, different emotions. We all bring a melting pot of memories, successes and failures to the table. Even identical twins, thanks to a marvelous Creator, are not truly identical. This is why it’s essential that we look at each other deeper than what we see on the surface.
I hope as you read this, you take the time to look past your own simple labels, as well as the labels you’ve placed on others. I hope you look deeper than careers or hobbies, ages or colors of skin. Look deep into someone’s eyes, and find their hopes, fears and passions. Find the soul behind the smile.
Just as a master chef’s dish is far more complex than the sum of it’s ingredients, people are far more than the sum of their labels.
So, if you want to find someone’s identity, take a chance today and look just a little bit deeper.