eye open

 Repent! - First word of Jesus' public ministry Let me record how I chose the name "Young Penitent."  I was a rapper and I was trying to think of a name to go by.  I had just become a Christian and so I thought I needed a new name.  My old rapper name was MC faim.  I chose the name faim as a dyslexic anagram with a secret meaning that nobody but myself was privy to.  Ok, I'll tell you what it meant: "what am I forgetting?"  Turn the "w" upside down and you have an "m."  Re-arrange the letters, "m, a, i, f" and you spell "faim" (pronounced "fame").  I won't tell you what I meant by "what am I forgetting" except that it was a sort of mantra that I thought of one day when I was on 'shrooms.  Ok, I'll tell you what it means: the thing that I am always forgetting is that I always take it a step too far.  Well, that is what my older brother told me one time.  I guess it just stuck. There; you ...

Is there a spiritual dimension to the war in Ukraine?  Of course there is a spiritual dimension to any event in world history, no matter how insignificant the event might be.  But the larger question is whether this is a war of good against evil, a righteous war, a war that can be painted in stark black and white colors.   Many people have already decided that this is the case, that Putin is setting down his foot and saying no to the evil globalist empire.  I sympathize with people who have taken this viewpoint, but I think we need to show restraint and reserve judgment before we jump to a conclusion which may not be correct.  Let us not forget how everybody got wrapped up in the Trump presidency, the same Trump whose most enduring legacy will be the Covid vaccine.  I liked Trump.  He did a good service to our country.  But was he the person that we all hoped and thought he was?  No, he clearly wasn't.  What is the lesson we can tak...

 When I was young I suffered greatly from depression (major depression which became bi-polar depressive type with psychotic features which became schizo-affective disorder).  I suffered more than most.  It broke me.  Then there was the heartache.  Pain!  Then there was the stomach ache.  More pain! Now my mental illness is treated.  I swallowed the red pill and quit giving women power over my emotions.  I discovered I was celiac and went on the gluten-free diet.  My pain and suffering are mostly resolved.  Even the back pain that began a number of years ago has been lessened due to my strength training.  So where am I going to get my suffering from now?  I have a guess, or rather a hope.  I hope to suffer for my faith.  You have to get your suffering in somewhere.  There are no free passes into paradise.  

 Press Release for Thursday, February 10, 2022. Statistics from the CDC on mortality rates have just been released and what they tell us many will find alarming.  It seems deaths are up, and yet we have not been able to find out what is causing these deaths.  There are some peculiarities about these statistics: young, healthy people are dying suddenly.  These are young people who for the most part had no previous morbidities, and so to many these deaths may seem unexpected.  We reached out to the worlds top medical expert Bill Gates to see if he had any insights into why people are all of a sudden dying: "It is true that people are dying suddenly," Gates said in a squeaky voice.  He continued: "We need to have a conversation about death and rethink the cause of death.  Previously people thought that death would usually happen to old and sick people, but we are finding out that this really isn't the case.  Young and healthy people die suddenly, and...

 The other day I picked up my bible and began reading.  This is something I do every day, as a rule.  I was disappointed when I noticed that the leather binding of the cover was beginning to unravel.  This bible is printed by Cambridge University Press, King James Version.  I thought that it was of excellent quality.  The paper they use is high quality, and durable.  Nevertheless, the cover is beginning to unravel.  I doubt this is because of overuse.  I've only been using it for 14 years, and I treat it with proper respect.  I don't throw it around, or handle it with soiled hands.  This cover should not be unravelling so soon, and it makes me wonder.  Perhaps the printers of this book are counting on people buying the book, and then letting it sit on the shelf?  It would have been a simple step for them to sew the cover together, instead of just using glue.  My conclusion is that they cut this corner, knowing that mo...

 There is a common misconception about the tradition of Holy Fools in the Orthodox Church.  The term fool in this context is meant to convey the meaning of somebody who acts in an irrational manner.  In other words, they act like an insane person would act.  They are in fact considered insane by many.  This is true.  Where people's understanding goes wrong is when they think that the person is actually insane, and happens to chance upon holiness somehow - perhaps by virtue of his mental illness.  This couldn't be further from the truth.  In actual fact, when a person takes on the podvig of foolishness-for-Christ, they  are doing it voluntarily.  They could, if they so wished, revert to acting like a normal person in full possession of their reasoning faculty.  The reason they act foolishly is because they want to hide their holiness and also invite upon themselves ridicule in order to further acquire more holiness through the humili...

I am that bread of life...if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever...From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.  - John 6:48-66 These were the Jews who turned back from following Jesus, not just because they didn't understand how it was possible for Him to give them his flesh to eat, but because it sounded like cannibalism to them.  Truly a hard saying.  It is a mystery.  Like, literally a mystery (as in sacrament ).  And of all the substances that God chose to use for the implementation of this mystery, it was two things: bread and wine.  Specifically bread made from wheat and wine made from grapes.  But where does this leave celiacs? I had the fortune of learning about celiac disease from one of the foremost authorities on this subject, the person who is writing the textbook that will be used to teach medical professionals about celiac disease.  That person is Nadine Grzeskowiak, the Gluten Free RN ....