"My truth." It's quite possible there's never been a more dangerous and damaging idea promulgated in society. There is only one Truth, with a capital 't', and it comes from the Lord. "But God is true; and every man a liar, as it is written" [Romans 3:4]. It really is the simplest dichotomy to understand: God is perfect, true, and loves us, His creation; we are sinful, fallen, and undeserved recipients of His mercy (pursuant that we ask for it). Due to our fallen nature however, we are often led astray and unfortunately in America we currently live in an era of Satanic ascendency, blinding many to the Truth. We trust misguided teachers or fall for the siren song of modern decadence. Many are tricked into serving Satan and living a life fully exhibiting the spirit of anti-Christ. Sadly, others outright declare their allegiance to Satan and mock God at every turn. The entire First Epistle of John and the first three chapters in particular make clear the distinction between man and God, Truth and untruth, light and darkness. In 1993 Raekwon and Ghostface Killah asked "Can It Be All So Simple?" They were reminiscing about childhood innocence but the sentiment applies for us believers as well and the answer is yes...but man in his selfish nature has a tendency to complicate the uncomplicated. "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth" [1 John 1:5-6]. Anyone paying a modicum of attention to the utter decay of American society recognizes that there is no light present in mass media entertainment, news, and politics. God has been forsaken formally as a matter of public policy and at the personal level by those who have forgotten Jesus' calling to be in the world, not of it [all of John 17]. The acceptance of a phrase like "my truth" is the natural culmination of rejecting God. Man has an instinctual desire to know God and when he does not know Him, he still believes in something as that void must be filled. Religion in most forms are unpopular these days so "the self" has been made the new god, hence "my truth." It adapts to whatever whims and dictates we decide and never holds us in contempt or forces us to struggle, we simply embrace our sins, like they are just a part of our backstory like we're movie characters. We don't judge god (ourselves), so as a result we have no right to have standards of behavior or disapprove of another's sins. If we have different sins than our neighbor, well, their truth must be different from our truth. Their god must be okay with it since my god is okay with mine. Satan laughs and Jesus weeps. I could continue but in my opinion, this is such a simple, core piece of doctrine for Christians that anyone who professes to be of the faith and yet also subscribes to the concept of "personal truth" is a heretic. But the Church has been derelict in their duty to properly counter the mores of the culture so it would be unsurprising that such people exist. We must pray for them and for our leadership while praying for ourselves, that we protect ourselves from the influences of our sick society.

Daddy daycare! That's the position I've been in since September 2021 when our first child was born. We were in the unique position where my wife's education and career path made more sense for me to be the stay-at-home parent while she finished her last semester and a half and immediately doubled my previous average salary upon graduation. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought I'd be the one responsible for the daily care, nurturing, and upbringing of two (now) toddlers. I was the stoic, unemotional type, jokingly referred to as a robot by my sister and her friends. I had also bought into that characterization, on many occasions to my detriment (it's good to feel!). However, while holding my 3-day-old daughter in my arms at 1am on our first night home with her...any pretense about being too tough or invulnerable was shattered. I realized I would move heaven and earth for this child and stop at nothing to protect her and give her the best fathering I possibly could. Me, a former US Army soldier, firefighter, and EMT was reduced to blubbering like a fool while I rocked our little girl. I've since gotten quite good at changing diapers, coaching potty training, and recognizing all the signs of hunger and tiredness before they reach tantrum levels. I make for a pretty good jungle gym and I'm always the monster when it's time to play it-tag. I'm still stern but my inherent goofiness has crawled to the surface and I can match the kids' silliness with the best of 'em. I'm a new man. Which leads to to my new goals. I have a background in accounting, with a bachelor's degree from 2010. I've always hated it but because it's what I've been most qualified for, financially I had to stick it out. I quite literally enjoyed working at Taco Bell more than running spreadsheets but minimum wage (even with the increases these days) doesn't stretch very far. The great thing about my time in the fire service was the medical experience I gained. Now granted it was in the pre-hospital setting, but coupled with my wife's old stories from her time as a nursing assistant, I realized medicine is the field for me. I now have my eyes set on becoming a CAA, certified anesthesiology assistant. It requires a masters-level education and passing a licensing exam but once complete, operates under the authority of a doctor of anesthesiology, similar to what CRNAs (certified registered nurse anesthetists) do, administering anesthesia and monitoring patients in surgery, etc. CAA is a relatively newer route into healthcare, approved for practice in 22 jurisdictions. There are even less schools with programs but I would be an "early adopter" as they say in tech and the field is nowhere near saturated yet. Since I majored in accounting the first time around, I need on average 10 science classes to satisfy the prerequisite requirements for admission to any of the Master of Science in Anesthesia programs. I'm have G.I. Bill funds that I will use for that schooling and now humbly come hat in hand for help getting me to that precipice. As fun as staying home with the children has been, I need to make the best of myself to better provide for them and my wife. I need to have a profession I'm proud of and that in turn, they can be proud of me for. It only took 36 years but I've finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up. Now I just have to make it happen!

"Why are you grounded this time? Didn't fold your socks right?" My father was a retired Lieutenant Colonel who spent his entire career in the US Army's Special Forces...but despite schoolyard gossip, he was not a drill instructor. He did however, instill pride, discipline, and integrity into my siblings and I in unusual ways. We were given A LOT of room to operate within the household and in our day-to-day lives. After being taught how to read the route map, shown where the stops were, and instructed on how to pay, I took my first trip alone on a city bus at the ripe age of 8 or 9, a fact that left my friends' parents flabbergasted. But how else was I or my sister or brothers going to get to our after school dentist or orthodontist or eye doctor appointments when my father and mother were both at work? Us kids were expected to carry some weight to help things along in the house, befitting our age and ability. We were taught how to perform every chore before it was ever assigned to us. That way we knew how to do it correctly and what was expected of us. It was then up to us to meet that standard. If we didn't, the consequences were never disproportional and usually were known ahead of time, allowing us to actually perform a bit of game theory and weigh the pros and cons. Contrast this with classmates of mine who's availability to come out and play was subject to the whims of their stressed/angry/tired parent(s) who only knew how to yell and never coached. We were taught to be considerate, a particularly important quality to my father. No man is an island and no matter how isolated, we don't live in vacuums. Finish the toilet paper? Put a new roll on. Don't leave a mouthful of milk or orange juice in the container; finish it and properly dispose of the container. First one home and the house is dark? Turn a few lights on so the next person can see their way and knows they're not alone. Have to be up early on a Saturday for practice? Be light on your feet and try to avoid making too much noise. The whole house doesn't need to wake up just because you do. I could go on and on. We definitely took these lessons for granted at the time but as I've gotten older I realize just how special my home life was growing up. It's beyond simple manners and decency, he was planting in us the kernels of expectations and high standards that we should hold for ourselves and ideally those around us. Look around...it seems most people don't think much of themselves these days. Their attitudes, behavior, and appearance speak volumes and the pages seem to be either blank or vulgar. We were expected to perform to the best of our abilities in everything we did; quite frankly, to give a damn. We were taught that doing so was a selfless act, that it was for our teammates, our teachers and coaches, our instructors, our neighbors and community. We were taught that showing up prepared and being ready to go, following through, meaning what you say and saying what you mean...these were all non-negotiable traits and that those in our orbit would benefit from us exhibiting them. I had the strictest home life of my peers and yet because of that discipline I had the most freedom. I couldn't be more grateful.