Zac Johnson · April 22, 2026
Jake's dad gave him five words of advice when he was young, broke, and trying to figure out how to build a life.
"Go to Mass every day."
He was working long hours, trying to save enough to get married, carrying the weight of a future he couldn't quite see. But he took his father's advice. And eventually, something changed. Clarity came. He felt a steadiness he didn't have before.
That steadiness carried him through a decade-long career in secular tech — until it led him to leave it all behind, start Truthly, and bring me along with him.
Jake's dad wasn't the first father to give that advice.
J.R.R. Tolkien — who wrote The Lord of the Rings and lived through two World Wars, a pandemic, and the Great Depression — made daily Mass the first act of his day. When his son Michael was struggling, Tolkien didn't give him a list of strategies. He wrote him a letter:
"Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament... There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth."
Two fathers. Two sons. The same instinct: when life is hard and the way forward is unclear, go to Mass — every day.
That's why we built the newest feature in the Truthly app: Mass Finder.
It's an interactive map that shows you Mass, confession, and adoration times near you — using data from our friends at MassTimes.org. You'll find it in the Daily section: tap the grid in the top-right corner, and it's the second item down.
Because the advice is only as good as your ability to act on it.
— Zac Johnson
Co-founder, Truthly