Allen Brokken 
Storyteller, Author, Technology Strategist.

Male Bjorn Born Child Left, Adult Male right The pains of birth had subsided when the actual pain began. Faint daylight streamed through the edges of the tent flap, illuminating her new baby. Shai’la looked down and saw the unthinkable. The top of his bald head had small bumps in it, poking up from under the flesh. It looked as if the knots of his spine just continued up his head from the base of his neck to the top of his forehead. “Demon Sired! Abomination! Nephilim! That’s

This fall, it seemed like every other headline was about plummeting reading and math scores in the U.S.: High schoolers in the United States last year earned their lowest marks on reading and math in two decades When it comes to reading, the nation's third- through eighth-graders are still mired in a pandemic-era slump, The average 12th-grade reading score is now 10 points lower than the first-ever recorded test more than 30 years ago. As a parent, that’s hard to hear. You wa

On March 13th, my Mom, Mary Dianne Brokken Beghtol, passed into glory due to complications from cancer. It was a sad day, and even now, over a month later, it's hard to tell if I'm still in shock or if the grief spread out across the long-drawn-out process of end-stage cancer softened the final blow such that her loss is merely a dull ache at this point. Regardless, she will be missed, and her contribution to my writing journey cannot be measured. When I was little, I was a

Gardening and Landscaping In my previous post, I concluded the discussion about connecting technology-obsessed children to God's world by encouraging your children to share their gifts with others. If you recall from my blog, technology-obsessed children want to get their hands on things. They are very often kinesthetic learners. One of the examples that I talked about in my blog for these children was gardening and landscaping. This is an idea that gives these kids lots of

Joy in Meeting Needs In my previous post, I discussed ways to engage your child's gifting with examples from God's word about designing before building. Encouraging your children to share their gifts with others can lead to a lifetime of joyfulness! One of the things I’ve learned about children with a technical bent is they can be exceedingly generous if they are nudged in that direction. There is a natural desire to keep a creation they’ve made for themselves, especially w

Skilled with Tools In my previous post, I discussed how to encourage your child to design before building. Now, let's discuss some examples from God's word about designing before building. Hiram’s Tradecraft was used to build the temple, 1 Kings 7: 13 And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. 14 He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to wor

Encourage Design Before Build In my previous post, I discussed the biblical basis for approaching building projects with a design before build mindset and how to encourage your children to approach it that way. In this post we'll be discussing the importance of perseverance. So, let’s talk a little bit about perseverance. The Ark was so long that, at approximately 510 feet long, it would take nearly one and a half football fields to equal the ark’s length. That’s big eno

Encourage Design Before Build In my previous post, I discussed the concept of spiritual gifts. Children with the gift of craftsmanship need to be nurtured along the way to develop particular skills by being exposed to different aspects of craftsmanship. In this post, I'll talk about a key component of craftmanship: designing something before building. A great example of designing before building comes from Exodus 35:30-35 KJV "30 Then Moses said to the people of Israel, “

The Spiritual Gift of Craftsmanship In my previous post, I discussed the challenges of connecting technology-oriented children to God's word. In this post, I’ll discuss the spiritual gift of craftsmanship and how you can tell if your child may be gifted in this direction. The first step is to understand that craftsmanship is a spiritual gift. In multiple passages, God empowers people to do amazing things with the technology of the day. “You shall speak to all the skillful

Challenges Discipling Technical Children: I closed my last blog by introducing the different kinds of learners and specifically highlighted kinesthetic or tactile learners. In this post, I will explore some of the challenges technical children have with standard discipleship techniques. Learning styles might be a new concept for you, as the theory of learning styles wasn’t something I was taught growing up. However, a few years ago, my Robotics club decided they wanted to do

Part1: Introduction If you are new to my blog, I thought I’d take a minute to introduce myself. I have been a professing Christian for most of my life, and I’m here sharing insights from God’s word. I’ve gained through my faith journey as someone who’s always been immersed in technology. In college, I met my wife of 29 years and remember the thrill of email, a new and marvelous way to communicate over summer breaks. That love of technology and my wife’s support became an exte

I don’t mean dirty diapers or an “accident.” I mean, they just really messed up. They have caused a real issue for themselves or others, intentional or unintentional. Maybe they just “accidentally” kicked a shoe through the living room window, deleted their robotics club’s entire code library, or shot the game-winning basket in the other team’s goal? It could be anything where they know they messed up, and you can just tell their stomach is now double-knotted in anxiety and s

Over the summer, it seemed like falling reading and math scores in the country came up daily in my social media feed. U.S. reading and math scores drop to lowest level in decades Illinois test scores highlight pandemic fallout with declines in math, reading Iowa’s test scores for 4th and 8th graders decline across the board The headlines go on and on. We all know that the pandemic seriously impacted students’ academic achievement in many ways, but are other factors causing th

Brick by Brick Build Instructions here If you've seen my Darth Vader's Bathroom videos you know that I have a lot of fun adding sound effects to things. With Christmas just around the corner, I realized there may be some parents out there looking to add more power to that awesome Lego set they picked up on Black Friday. So, I thought I'd put together a quick tutorial on how to make a custom sound effect box to add to any Lego. I use the FOSA Voice Recording Module* for the

In last week's post I talked about the benefits of my regular discipline around connecting with my family. In this week's post I'm providing some quick tips for you to start to establish your own practice. As I thought about my own journey, I realized that many dads were struggling the way I was. They continue to be overworked and overwhelmed with the state of the world. It’s nearly impossible to go a day without hearing about the next world-ending crisis. So, what can a dad

In the previous blog post, I discussed how I built a regular discipline around preparing to connect with my family. In this post, I’ll be talking about the unexpected benefits of this activity. As I started to work on this regular connection with my kids, it was a little lame at first. It’s one thing to ask your kids, “and then what happened”; it’s another to make it all up on your own. The first couple of mini stories fell flat, not because they were “bad,” but because they

My last post talked about the demands of the consulting lifestyle, and the challenge of connecting with my kids when I was far away. So, there I was, leaving my child hanging, again with nothing to say. I hated these moments. Before consulting, I used to cherish time with my kids every night. We would sit and read picture books. I would tuck them into bed and help them say their prayers. Then, in those moments far from home, I couldn’t even think of something to say. One nig

In part 1 of this series, I talked about my life leading up to becoming a traveling consultant. This post picks up just after walking through the portal to this new life. The best way to describe my first year of Microsoft Consulting Services is that it was periods of technological euphoria, punctuated by moments of absolute terror. I joined the company as a remote employee in 2008, before working remotely was cool. I flew to Minneapolis to onboard to the company and then sta

You might have noticed the update to my profile picture. It’s hard to miss the little “Cool Dad everyone’s talking about” emoji. Some might say that it is pretty unprofessional for work, maybe even a bit arrogant. But I thought if high achievers can signify their achievement with the company red jacket or Rolex at work, it shouldn't be a big deal to share my most significant award. That said, not everyone gets the significance of this little word bubble so let me explain. If

My Aunt Karen inspired my faith and embodied Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” While I was never with her in the mission field, this mission was with her everywhere she went. As I grew up, she would visit every couple of years and tell tales of he