Welcome Back 👋

A glimpse into where we're headed

You haven't heard from me in a while. You see, over the past two years I've been trying out different types of content on different platforms.

I’ve tried 🔨 ...

• writing a newsletter called "Father's Insights" with only a handful of publications. It’s been deleted.

• creating a podcast called "Hidden Lives" that ran for a little under two years. It was a fun and rewarding experience. However, the podcast will be put on hold for the foreseeable future. You can listen to past episodes here.

• posting on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (no way in heck did I try TikTok). Of the three, I like Instagram the best. Perhaps it's a generational thing. Twitter will soon be deleted. And facebook will be filed away. You can follow me on Instagram here.

• making YouTube videos. Even here I have experimented in content types. I've done an informational video, a reactionary video, and an essay video. You can watch all three videos here.

• publishing a website. Originally it was under my name but something about that didn't seem right. I'm still not sure what's best. And more importantly, I'm still not sure what the Orthodox ethos should be behind this. Perhaps a post for a later date.

• creating a brand. This was a little more nuanced. But I've learned a ton. What is a brand? It's a feeling and expectation a person has about your product or service. It's the trust you generate. Well... it's a lot of things.

I've come to realize that creating online Orthodox content is challenging. I struggled with creating engaging Orthodox content that adhered to some "tradition" in my mind. For some reason I had, and still have, in my mind that Orthodox content looks like "this." And if it doesn't look like this then it's bad. I wanted to "stay in line." To conform to the idea of what other people think Orthodox content should be. Or to conform to the content that is already out there.

But I'm beginning to see that this is a little silly. Orthodoxy isn’t cookie cutter. We shouldn't try to all be the same. St. Basil the Great is a vastly different person from St. Paisios the Athonite. Each saint, and each person, reveals God in their own unique way. The one God is revealed in His saints in infinite ways. St. Basil reveals the hospitality of God, St. John Chrysostom reveals the wisdom of God, St. Paisios the Athonite reveals the simplicity of God, St. Mary of Egypt reveals the redemption of God, St. Porphyrios reveals the love of God, St. John of Damascus reveals the theology of God. Does that all make sense? I hope so. It does to me.

Put a different way, you can think of God as this bright white light. And the saints as the many colors you can find in that light. It's when you put them all together that you have the fullness of God. Truly "God is wonderful in His saints."

With that said, I want to share with you that I'm going to try a different approach.

I'm not going to fit a mold. Instead, I'm going to produce Orthodox content that I myself would enjoy consuming. Orthodox content that is practical. Orthodox content that serves you. Orthodox content that brings my personality into the mix.

I'm going to share with you my life in Christ.

I hope you stick around. It's going to be a bumpy ride. 🛫