Sorry to miss yesterday, but we had a special service at church that kept me occupied into the afternoon. It was made even more delightful by getting to meet our priest’s month-old daughter. She was born while I was on pilgrimage and yesterday was her first day in church.
I ran errands early this morning, and am trying to decide if I really need to do one thing I forgot or if I can put it off until tomorrow. We are supposed to get some storms tonight that should help cool things down. Meantime, it’s summer in Indiana which means hot and very humid. Interesting that it very similar to the weather pattern 125 years ago, as well as a reminder this is not a new thing.
Plan to get up my usual July 4th post early in the morning, as we have a baptism tomorrow morning and vespers (only, no matins) tomorrow evening. Wondering if I will be able to see any fireworks tomorrow night as I don’t plan on going out again after I get home from vespers. Things have already gotten crazy here as Indianaman and Indidanakids are giving Floridaman a run for his money.
More soon.
UPDATE: This will show as edited as I’ve changed the boilerplate below as part of some general clean-up and editing of widgets and more. I’ve even cleaned up the Amazon wish list a bit to reflect some changes I see coming. Hopefully the mostly-behind-the-scenes stuff will make things a little cleaner and better.
Getting hit by lightning is not fun!It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. If you would like to help me with seminary courses, pilgrimages, and more, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods.There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. Thank you.
Today, I am five-years-old. No joke. My life ended five years ago.
You see, today is my “Alive Day.” Among the mil-community, there is a concept that your Alive Day is the day that, but for the Grace of God, you should have died. It’s possible to have more than one Alive Day, and in fact I’m one of those who does have more than one.
In fact, if you hang around a number of the military/veteran blogs, you will see comments to posts like this one with someone grumping that they have several alive days. It is a sad bit of chest-thumping, but it is chest-thumping that can serve some good by getting all of us to sit down and give thanks for all the times God has spared our lives.
But, there is always that one big one. The one that truly ended your previous life and left you starting a new one. Sometimes radically so, as you face TBI and cognitive issues, loss of limbs or chunks, paralysis, etc. Sometimes it is more subtle: I knew someone in college who was in a car wreck, and was a totally different person afterwards. Radical personality change is a polite and understated description.
Five years ago today, at roughly 0445 hours, the life I had ended. A bolt of lightning hit a tree just off the porch where I was drinking coffee and reading the news. The doctors who have treated me since still have academic debates about what happened. The best/most likely scenario, worked out with those who actually work with the patients and one doctor who specializes in treating lightning strike and high-voltage electrical shock survivors, is that I did take a direct hit just behind my right ear plus got a load of inductance.
The good thing was, the right side took the brunt of things and the flow through my body. It exited my right foot via the ball of the foot (podiatrist was unsurprised at that), melted through my shoe and left a “scar” on the bottom of the shoe where it ran off. I’ve described the mental process here before, but will just say that the part of me that is me stayed alert and “thinking” even as my world turned white, then dark. Before the lights came back on, I wondered if I would see heaven, hell, or something else when they did come back on. I admit relief that I saw the porch when the lights came back on. In fact, I was convinced for a bit that I hadn’t been hit, and even said a prayer of thanks to God and the Theotokos that I was alive and it had missed me. Even then, part of me knew it was by Grace that I was alive.
You can read one account of what I felt at the time here; and, you can read up on this particular journey here. The high-level overview is that since then I’ve had open heart surgery, both shoulders replaced, found out that my right ear qualifies for a hearing aid but getting one is useless as about half the nerves are fried, dealt with a number of digestive system issues, and have spent more time in hospitals and doctor’s offices than I care for. I’ve fired a couple of doctors and found at least one good new doc. The oddest things that have happened are that I had to relearn how to sing, my eyes changed colour, and garbanzo beans/chick peas now can put me in the hospital. Some of the most effective things that have happened are speech/cognitive therapy, physical therapy, and massage therapy.
The best thing that has happened are several things that all tie together in one thing. Before I was hit, I was an unhappy Roman Catholic. Traditional Catholicism was being attacked from within and without, and the church I had been attending was no longer an option. Trying to find a new one near to me was frustrating. So, I widened my search parameters online and otherwise, and almost immediately three different things pointed me not only to Orthodoxy, but to one particular church. Not too long after I started attending that church, a change in cardiologist (much needed) raised the possibility of more open-heart surgery and I even thought a bit about a transplant (I decided no at the time).
Then, I was baptized into Orthodox Christianity. Not long after, a day of heart imaging showed that not only did I not need more surgery, but that all the damage from the strike had been healed. There was also some other healing physical, mental, and spiritual. That is an ongoing process. I began sharing that here, and elsewhere, but tried to keep it low-key in many respects. Turning the blog into an online ‘Hour of Glower’ was not and is not the plan as it is the fastest way to send people running rapidly away. Faith is a part of everyday life, and I think sharing it that way is the best way.
Today, I am five-years-old. No joke. My life ended five years ago. When I stood up again, the person I had been and the life I had were gone. Nor do I want them back. I was given the opportunity to live a new life and to grow into a new and better person through that process. There is more I could say, and over time I will share it. For now, there is one thing I think it very important to state for the record.
Today, I am five-years-old. Thank you to all my readers who have been with me over the years, particularly these last few years. Thank you to all my readers who have joined in since I started my new life. Thank you to all who just pop in every now and then. Your prayers, your support, and your gifts have kept me going and helped me to heal and grow. You have all been a valuable and important part of this new life, and I can’t thank you enough for that.
I think my journey is about to accelerate, and I hope you will all come along for the ride. In addition, there are some fascinating developments underway in space exploration and exploitation, interesting medical research, and a good bit more that I hope to share. And to my veteran friends and readers, if I ever do go ‘Hour of Glower’ you are free to have a verbal sock party and set me straight.
There is more, much more I suspect, to come. After all, I’m only five-years-old today.
If you would like to help me with this trip, seminary courses, and more, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. I’ve added Cash App ($CliffPow7) and Venmo (@Clifford-Powers-5). There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. Getting hit by lightning is not fun!It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.
Good Morning! The morning is being nibbled to death by ducks, but getting some stuff done. One domain renewal, lots of minor stuff. The presentation at church went well, may end up putting together some separate presentations on art, architecture, and other topics. Hope to have a real post later today.
When I selected “A New Life” as the title and theme for my recovery from being hit by lightning, as well as my ongoing fundraiser, I had no idea how appropriate it was. My old life ended in a flash of light, and a new one began when I got back up afterwards. There were a lot of changes physically and otherwise.
One I didn’t fully appreciate at the start was that it was also the start of a new spiritual life. In the aftermath, I began searching for a new Roman Catholic church. That search proved disappointing, from a lack of traditional services to having a priest blow off visiting me in the aftermath of surgery with no word or follow-up. This led to my expanding some of the parameters of my search, and having my search and some other events point me to a particular Orthodox church. I went, and have never looked back.
It has been a rather intense journey, and by Orthodox standards it has been extremely rapid. Orthodoxy likes to take it’s time and a measured (and proven) approach to growing in the faith. This does many things, from avoiding burnout to preventing heresy and miscommunications. It also helps ensure that any member, convert or otherwise, takes the time to discern their path and to be sure it is the correct one.
In my case, that discernment has indicated a path towards the altar. While I think I know the destination, it could actually be one of several possibilities. The thing is, the first steps are the same for all of them, and my focus is on taking those steps and proceeding down the path that lies before me. If I don’t start walking, I’m never getting anywhere.
That is going to result in some changes here. There are enough political pundits out there that my small contributions to such are not needed and not likely to be missed in the roar of the crowd. My intent here is going to be to continue to write about preparedness and related issues, travel and food, and on my journey towards a very new and different life. I may offer takes on potential futures if I think it’s about to rain. There will likely still be some snark and puns, as they are too much a part of me to disappear. This is also going to be reflected in my limited presence on other social media.
Not long after I got up again after being hit, the feeling that I was spared to do something grew. I had actually had the feeling for years that I was supposed to be doing something but hadn’t done as much with it as I should have. In private, I’ve joked that the lightning was the equivalent of being hit in the head with a large dead fish both to get my full attention and get me active in figuring out what that “something” was and taking action. And I am doing so as I have no desire to find out what comes after lightning to get my attention and focus.
More than three years ago I began attending that Orthodox Christian church to which several things pointed me. More than two years ago, I was baptized into the Church and began the process of giving myself to God. Now, I am taking the steps to fully give myself and walk the path laid before me. I am human, I am going to make mistakes, and I will always be a sinner. God didn’t send his Son to save the perfect, but the sinners.
My late Godfather, a priest, told me one time that he had thought of putting up a banner on the church saying “Only Sinners Need Apply” to drive home that point. One thing that became clear on my recent pilgrimage is that the idea that I was too much a sinner, and not perfect enough to be more than I am, is not true but a lie in the dark used to encourage people not to try. There is a line from Babylon 5 that resonates with me, and even my priest liked it: ‘Sin lies not in falling down, but in failing to get back up again.’
I’ve been knocked down more than once in my life, and there are some nasty wounds in body, mind, and soul — but an amazing amount of healing has already happened. It’s a reminder that I alone can do nothing; but, with God, I can do anything. I got back up that morning almost exactly five years ago, and it’s time to fully stand up and start walking. No matter your beliefs, I hope you will follow my journey and even walk with me a bit on occasion.
On a practical note, I’m going to have to do a summer bleg here soon as the winter bleg didn’t get a third of the goal, and I want to take two seminary courses this fall if I can. Also, I hope to do some more pilgrimages as I’ve had two monasteries ask me to come back and stay a while to aid healing, learning, and growth and I would love to do that, to visit new places including the Holy Lands, and get to visit again with some of the new friends I made on this trip.
I’m also going to be selling off many of my current possessions, particularly those in storage. Yard sales, online, and anything else needed will be coming up in the next couple of months I hope. Provided my books have survived storage, I am even thinking of selling off my Science Fiction/Fantasy library, a number of which are autographed. There are some books I want to keep, plan on keeping my kitchen gear, and a few sentimental items. Also my tools, especially hand tools as I like to be able to do things even if the power is off. Other than that, going to try to get it gone. Have the feeling I need to lighten and become as agile as possible.
Even with the focus here changing somewhat, I hope that all my regular readers will stick around, and it wouldn’t be bad if a few more joined in. More soon.
If you would like to help me with this trip, seminary courses, and more, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. I’ve added Cash App ($CliffPow7) and Venmo (@Clifford-Powers-5). There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. Getting hit by lightning is not fun!It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.
Sorry, overslept this morning so running behind. I’m headed down to the church to test my laptop with some of our limited AV equipment. I want to be sure everything works for my presentation on Sunday. My priest wants to find out what is working and get rid of anything not working. Win-Win.
The presentation will be this Sunday following our “coffee” which follows our liturgy. We fast before the service as we partake of the body and blood of Christ (Eucharist) as part of the liturgy. After the service, we then have “coffee” which usually is a meal. People take turns cooking or bringing things in for the coffee and some of our members are really good cooks. The coffee is usually quite good as one of our members has family that runs a coffee roasting business.
If you are in or near Indianapolis you are welcome to come for the presentation. You don’t have to attend the full service, which starts at 0900 (sorta, there are days we operate on Orthodox time, which has been described as mañana without the sense of urgency). We actually have some things going on before the service (usually confession and someone reading/singing), so don’t think you are interrupting or such. You are not. If you are just wanting to see the presentation, show up about 1030 and come on in.
As for where, Joy of All Who Sorrow Bulgarian Orthodox Church is at 16th and Delaware, and the website has more information.
If you’ve never been to an Orthodox service before, let me know you are coming and I will be glad to welcome you and get you paired up with someone who can explain what is going on. Keep in mind that as our guest, short of deliberately trying to disrupt things/commit violence, you can do no wrong. It is a long service, similar in length to the Latin Mass (1.5 hours), but it “moves” pretty quickly.
If you just want to see the presentation, show up about 1015-1030 and the service should be wrapping up. Join us for coffee and once people are fed we will do the presentation. Hope to see you there.
Sorry for not posting yesterday, but the day got away from me. So much so, I missed a dental appointment. It is re-scheduled, and I did get some things done, just not posting.
One of the good things that happened yesterday is that I will be attending the Diocesan Conference for our Church with my Priest and Deacon. I have to cover my costs, so feel free to hit the tip jar. It’s in the Chicago suburbs, and while our church hosted it a couple of years ago, I was in the kitchen helping cook the entire time and did not get to attend it. Given all that has happened during the pilgrimage, I’m glad to have the opportunity.
Got some other work done, and have created the slide-show for a presentation I’m going to be giving at my church about the pilgrimage. More on that soon, if you are in or near Indianapolis, be glad to have you attend.
More soon.
If you would like to help me with this trip, seminary courses, and more, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. I’ve added Cash App ($CliffPow7) and Venmo (@Clifford-Powers-5). There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. Getting hit by lightning is not fun!It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.
I miss him, and do wish I could run some things past him. I would love to hear his take on some current events, including the path I’m following. To those fortunate enough to be a father, Happy Father’s Day.
I had planned to get something up yesterday, but my debrief with my priest took a while and led to me getting sidetracked a bit. Today, I have breakfast and visit with a friend and then have to go meet with some others this afternoon. There is more coming, and thinking it’s time to go over where I went on Mount Athos. Please stand by.
Sorry, not feeling great today, decided to take the day off for all intents and purposes. Didn’t help that on top of not feeling good I couldn’t remember if I had taken the water pill or not, so may have taken two. Hit the tip jar, may have to pay for a new toilet as I think I may have cut a hole in it. (smile). More soon I hope.
I’ve been asked by quite a few if I am going to post photos or videos from my pilgrimage, and I’ve committed to trying to do a post a day with photos and/or some video. However, the “real” SLR camera I took to Iraq is dead, along with the broadcast quality video camera I used. The dust of Iraq won those battles, and it didn’t help that they were large and heavy. I really need small, light, and easy to use — and like most people I’ve taken to using my mobile/cell phone.
Now, what I had for about the last six years was a senior citizens special that I got with my special senior citizen rate plan. It was an i-Phone, but didn’t have a number and instead had a three letter designation. The camera was okay when I first got it, but not that good these days. I looked around a bit at available phones, and ended up considering it a choice of evils in some respects (Google versus Apple versus Other Corporation) with me almost wanting to root for all to lose. Really would love to see some real competition from someone dedicated to privacy and security along with the latest gee whiz. Meantime, I decided to go with Apple as the lesser evil of the crowd and because I know I can easily integrate it with laptop and such.
So, as I noted in a post the other day, I went to my provider last week (a real store and not one of the affiliated) to check on some things and see what phone options were available. The great news was that my senior citizens plan comes with basic international roaming. It also turns out that unlimited text and data means unlimited text and data anywhere in the world. Short version is that I can text with no problems and anything I can do via data (and wifi) is golden. Going to keep actual calls to a minimum and make full use of wifi, and keep the great rate of my now grandfathered senior citizen rate plan. And, yes, I made sure my phone is set to make use of wifi calling. I will turn on data roaming when I leave just to be safe.
I ended up having a very nice young gentleman help me, and he really dug into the the plan and making it work so that I could keep my current rate. He also came up with some other suggestions on things to do and try, and then we started talking phones. Sadly, no real promotion options would apply to any phone, nor would my then current phone have any significant trade-in value. I had an idea of what I was after, but we explored options anyway. Turns out, he had in stock an i-Phone 17 Pro Max that had the best camera, best battery life, and could easily handle the translation and special navigation apps I wanted to install. It also has emergency satellite capability already engaged, which was a big plus for me.
Even better, he was able to get the price down $100 from what I had budgeted. Not a lot, but it beat a sharp stick in the eye, and I was getting the Max, which I had not considered given the expense. I had considered it as it is larger (easier to see and use) and has a larger (and better) battery which gives it extremely good battery life. More on that in a minute. So, I did grab the opportunity to grab more camera for less money than I had budgeted.
Getting everything over from the old phone to the new took some time, but we got most things done in the store. I had to update a number of apps when I got home, but that wasn’t too bad and gave me a chance to review what I had on the phone and eliminate a couple that I haven’t used in years. I’ll cover the apps I’m adding and testing in some future posts.
The photo above was shot on the phone yesterday, as the sun came up. The old phone could not have gotten the shot. The resolution of the sensors is amazing, and it captures far more of the gradients of light and color than the old phone. The zoom actually works and zooms with no significant degradation of quality. There are other features available that I have not yet explored. I’m going to have to take a quick tutorial on the photo and video capabilities, and on in-phone editing capabilities.
Now, I also got a case for the phone, as the last thing I want to do is to risk damage. For years, I used and loved the OtterBox cases. They have saved my bacon and several phones over the years. However, I wasn’t impressed with the quality of the last one I got, and I found out a few years back that the warranty apparently no longer covered flaps that tore off because of use. Also, the costs of buying a new replacement had gone up. Significantly even.
As it turns out, my provider had stopped selling their products because of issues, with price being prominently mentioned. Instead, they had gone with Pelican, which I did not realize had gone into the cell-phone case business. I’ve used Pelican cases for shipping for ages, and had even converted a small case of theirs into my travel humidor when I smoked cigars. The case for my phone also meets MIL-STD 810G drop standards, which means it should protect the phone from a 24-foot drop. Hoping I never do anything more than 3-feet, so should be more than good. Between the case and screen protector, things should be good to remain useful during the pilgrimage and after.
I’ve got to look up some things in regards the phone, as it has some buttons the old one didn’t, and is missing a couple the old one had. I really wish they had a tutorial for use of the phone as it is so different from the old. I was shown a few things, but am having to figure the rest out on my own.
Earlier, I mentioned battery life. On the old phone, I could use up twenty percent or more of my charge just reading the news before I got out of bed. That phone had already been warranty replaced once a year or so ago because of battery life issues. I just ran the new phone for two days without charging and still didn’t get below twenty percent charge even with running trip navigation for several trips. So, going a day without charging, even with doing photo and video and such, should be quite doable. I will take a couple of portable power banks with me just in case, but I’m less worried on that score now.
Now, I can’t answer questions on if it is worth it to upgrade to the 17 from a 15 or 16; but, I can say that it truly was a quantum leap from my old senior citizen special. Would I have preferred to spend less money: YES. Was it truly an option given the upgrades to camera, battery performance, and the ability to handle some needed apps: YES. Will it fill my needs for many years to come: Yes. Will it last that long: I sure hope so, going to do my part to make it happen.
For all that I like to upgrade electronics every five years, I had reached a point on mobiles that I was planning to keep using the senior citizen special until either it or I died. I don’t think much of the companies behind the current giants, and think Apple is way overpriced on top of other issues. That said, I’m tied into Apple products though I am considering options if the opportunity arises. In this case, though I think the official list price is too high, I got enough of a deal and a huge upgrade in performance and usability that made it worth the investment. I would prefer not to have done it, but that just wasn’t an option.
So, I’m set for basic coms, electronic translation capabilities, and imaging for the trip. I’ll share more on phone performance as things move along, and hopefully a lot more photos and even video will be here and/or in my X feed.
Thank you all for your help in making this happen. I could not be doing this without you, my readers. Know you, your gifts, and your kindness are very much appreciated!
Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, and to start a truly new life, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.
