“If you want a friend in Washington,” Harry Truman famously snarled, “get a dog!”

Old Harry wasn’t kidding. He had two for good measure: Feller, a cocker spaniel, and Mike, an Irish setter (more about Irish setters later). In fact, the vast majority of U.S. Presidents have been dog owners, and every president in the twentieth century has owned at least one dog (Calvin Coolidge seems to hold the record at 11). In fact, the family dog has been credited with saving several political careers from ruin.

You never know when—or how—inspiration will hit. 

For instance this year I decided that I’d had it with New Year’s resolutions. I was sick of making lists and forgetting about them or worse, unearthing them later in the year and realizing how completely I’d failed. I’m not sure how I came to this conclusion—perhaps it was just the accretion of failure—but I was determined to stick with it. Besides, were there any resolutions I hadn’t already tackled at one time or another?

Wow, what a year, one of those years that seemed to last forever but was over before it started. Does that make sense? Not really. But that’s the way it feels.

Imagine your child or grandchild waking up in a hospital room alone on Christmas morning.

Everybody loves end-of-year lists, me included. So once again, our editors chose the 10 most inspirational stories that appeared in Guideposts in the past year.

It wasn’t easy. We published literally hundreds of stories this year. Still, some linger in our memories. The story I loved most in 2011 was ...

Wait! I can’t do that! Really, how can I have a favorite?

You never know who you are going to meet in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Today, in fact, I met several inspiring celebrities.

Have any of you ridden in a New York City cab lately? For a couple of years now, all the cabs have been outfitted with interactive TVs that give you news, sports, weather, entertainment and, naturally, commercials (to pay for all those new TVs).

New York, Portland, Atlanta, Nashville, Jacksonville, Birmingham, New York, Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, New York…..

It’s December, and I feel like I haven’t had a chance to catch my breath all 2011; it’s been that sort of year. When I agreed to work on a book for Guideposts a few years ago I knew the writing would take a lot out of me, particularly writing a book as personal and self-revealing as mine. But nobody really explained the promoting-the-book part. The part where I turn into a ping-pong ball.

There is something uniquely American about the Thanksgiving holiday. Canada has its own Thanksgiving, but few other countries set aside a day to be grateful.

We all know about the Pilgrims and how the Wampanoag Indian tribe saved them from starvation, the occasion of our first Thanksgiving. It wasn’t until 1863, however, that Thanksgiving was made a national holiday by presidential proclamation. Thanksgiving was not a legal holiday until 1941, when Congress passed legislation proposed by FDR.

Millie is not a fearful or an aggressive dog. True, she’s wary of riding in the car, but that’s because I got into an accident with her when she was still a puppy and she has never forgotten the Jeep flipping over and landing in a swamp (thank God we weren’t hurt).

Last I blogged, it was from the Mediterranean waters off Istanbul at the end of the Guideposts Holy Lands Tour.