Blessings! I am an Arizona native who moved to Georgia during the Covid-19 pandemic to be with family and to start a new life. After 30 years of Agnosticism, I became serious about seeking God and renewing my faith in Christ asking for His guidance. From a very young age I questioned Protestantism, it's teachings, and the leadership after experiencing a mix of the Prosparity Gospel, Baptist, and Non-Denominational churches. None of it made sense and it always left an emptiness and even more questions than answers, which led to much conflict in my youth at Sunday school with the teachers and my father. This caused me to ultimately distrust the church and rebel against it's teachings. During my teen years this rebellion led to the exceptance of satan and much anger, but after experiencing the dangers of such acceptance, I refuted the devil and became Agnostic. With such experiences, I could not deny that there was a spiritual realm of both good and evil. It wasn't until my experience with a year of homelessness as a late teen that I began to see the good in a very dark world. During this time God protected me, warned me of dangers, and provided food and shelter from many strangers. God placed opportunities which helped me to work my way off the streets and reunite with family. Because of this I was convinced God exsisted, but still refused to trust the church. It wasn't until after turning 40 when I finally submitted to God's will and began praying to Him. Because of this God quickly graced me with a faithful wife who was on the same path, and it ultimately led us both to the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, where we are both baptised as Orthodox Christians. 

I am a non-clergy laity of the Church serving as a steward of candle making, caring for the kandilia, caring for icons, maintaining the manouali, and lighting the kandilia before services. 

I am very led to frequently practice the Jesus Prayer and am never without my prayer rope. I also wear loose fitting black garments in practice of humility, repentance, and mourning sinfulness, while slowly strengthening and building my devotion to the ascetic pratice of hesychia. Early on I was blessed by my priest to pursue these practices, which I take seriously, and build upon them with the promise to my priest of maintaining a balance in my marraige while doing so. Because of these practices, I refuse to get involved in apologetics, nor follow theological debates. Recently I have intentionally removed myself from social media to dive deeper into the practices of prayer, service, and strengthening my devotion to God and marriage. 

To have a deeper understanding of the practices mentioned, and why I do them, please click "Understanding Practices".