The 1Glories Vision

Welcome to 1Glories, the creative and publishing hub for Chad Gramling. Through captivating storytelling, history, and art, Chad bridges the past and present to inspire a more thoughtful, creative future.

Tulips - Flowers Listening Up

Insights and Inspirations

Its Time to Turn: Remembering 9/11 in a Divided World

A reflection on the shadow of 9/11, our collective memory shift from unity to division, and we must the season.

Father’s Day Reflection and Legacy Letter to My Beautiful Baby Girls

On this Father’s Day, I’m pouring my heart out to my daughters in a message about the past, unfair forks in the road, and my deepest wishes for their futures.

Elvis, Hulk Hogan, and… Me

I am no superhero or king. But I do confess I miss the days when my wife and little girls thought I might be one, or at least lead me to feel like one. Unfortunately, 2026 has mostly served up to yours truly, a lot of kryptonite, yellow, loud sounds, and...

Hey God! Dave Mustaine Made the Soundtrack to My Midlife Meltdown

The greatest dream of my life has been the family I was blessed to build. But lately, as the sharpness of youth dulls and my children use the very wings I fought to give them, I find myself in a painful new season. In the quiet insecurity of a changing life, an unexpected heavy metal anthem has become my ultimate prayer.

Ending My Purposeful Pause from Blogging and More

Growth often requires a purposeful pause. A few years ago, I stepped away from writing online to focus on some massive shifts in my professional, personal, and civic life—from stepping into an exciting new season leading an incredible Business Intelligence team to finally drafting a historical fiction novel two decades in the making. I’m returning to the keyboard with a more grounded perspective on community, leadership, faith, and resilience.

Fly on, Thunderbird, Fly & the Quiet Riot in My Soul

I've worked on this message for a year, but it's really DECADES in the making. Whether to post it or not has had countless reconsiderations, but WTH, here it goes... BUT, before I dive in, please know this is NOT a cry for help, sympathy, or attention. Quite the...

The Coming New Digital Hell

Many technophobes experience a personal digital hell on a daily basis. But, fast forward 100 years to a fully digitized society. Physical newspapers and magazines have ceased to exist. Books are all nestled within the Applazon Cloud by monopolizing the rights when the...

A Community’s Legacy of Change

I recently sat on the outside patio of the Auburn, Indiana Starbucks, pondering historical legacy in the context of community. Many years ago, as a teenager, this very spot might have been where I experienced the first garlicy joys of Fazoli's breadsticks. Before...

Welcome to My Last “Blog Post”

Have you noticed I don’t post on my blog at 1Glories all that often any longer? Here’s why: it became a distraction. If you’ve ever blogged and tried to do so, you know that chasing visits, clicks, optimizing for search and such is exhausting! The blogger has to have...

When Being Teachable Takes More Humility than Smarts

Early in my career, an email changed my life by helping me realize I was unteachable. Thankfully, I took it to heart and have grown more than I ever would have had it not been sent.

Veggie Tales had a legendary rise and just as legendary fall. Phil Vischer, through the experiences of it all, learned about setting our motives rightly on God and serving God’s will over our own. It’s a lesson he takes into his second act, focusing on deeper discipling and inspiring focused ministry.

How Phil Vischer’s Second Act Rises Above the Loss of Veggie Tales

As my home church was launching a young disciple's study from Veggie Tales creator, Phil Vischer, I was reminded of his Vischer’s own tale. It’s one of brokenness, challenge, triumph, defeat, loss, sorrow, regret, and coming back. I thought more about it and concluded...

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Today I am offering you seven posts teaching us that, first, God is in control of your disaster; that you indeed can recover from disaster; and that your trials - even disasters - are not without reason.

7 Posts About Finding Value in Disaster and Life’s Trials

It’s not easy to find value in disaster, especially as it’s going down. However, I have no doubt that we can learn from every experience in life. That’s evident in the take-a-ways from today’s “7 Posts About...” post. Today I am offering you seven posts (okay, eight,...

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When we seek healing to our pain, we have to know that hiding is not healing, that our response can determine how well we heal. And, even though scars usually will remain, we must ultimately release our pain before we are able to truly heal.

There’s No Healing a Wounded Spirit When You Run Away

When we need healing, we search all sorts of places to get the relief we seek. Of course, healing some events can be a more grueling process than others. Living in a culture where we expect immediate relief from merely taking a pill or syrup, it means we can be quite...

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