The Keener Way

      In 2016, the world watched as American politics turned into a cage fight between presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In 2020, they watched a second fight between Donald Trump and Joseph Biden.     Those last two elections had a way of bringing out the worst of some people--on all sides of the political spectrum. It was a tooth, nail, and claw free-for-all as people strove to prove why their candidate was the country's savior and the opposing candidate would be the nation's rapid demise.  In the midst of the madness, there was an overwhelming increase in non-voters, people who recognized that the real problem wasn't in the two candidates and how unfit either of them were for the office of president, but in the society and culture that led to such individuals being presented as the sole candidates. And they realized that so long as society remained so broken, it really made no difference who held the office. Those who dec...

 I shouldn't have to say anything about 2020. It was a mad and crazy year. Period. 2021 has its own level of craziness, but at least some things seem to have calmed down. For now. In my personal life, though, 2021 has been one of the craziest years of my life. Ever. Where to even begin? I guess in January. I left my job.     I worked for a construction contractor for half a year part time, then five and a half years full time. But at the end of December, I left. My family was moving two states away, and after much deliberation and prayer, I decided to go with them. My truck broke.     As the only person in my family with a tow hitch, I was nominated to haul a load of stuff in a borrowed box trailer from our home in northeast Ohio, to our new home in Hagerstown, Maryland. My truck made its maiden towing journey beautifully. But on the way home with an empty trailer, I suffered catastrophic engine failure. My truck spent a month in a engine shop in centr...

I was thinking, a couple days ago, about something or other, and whatever it was, it got me to thinking, can Lucifer\Satan see the future?    Well, maybe not.    This got me off on another tangent, thinking about what power he does have. And based on what we can read about his character in Job, Revelations, and elsewhere, I'm inclined to think he's bluffing.    Don't get me wrong. I am not underestimating the Devil's power to brainwash, lie, deceive, hypnotize, tactically look deep into the present, etc    Nor am I saying we can defeat him in our own power. Cause we can't,    But what I'm saying is, there is a hell of a lotta stuff he can't do. Satan is not all powerful. He can directly affect the present, and can physically cause things to happen. He can distort our perception and trick us into seeing things that aren't actually there. But from what I can tell, he basically has to ask God's permission to do a lot of his deeds...

Some time back, I watched a film called "Little Boy" (2015). It the story of a physically small boy (presumably with dwarfism) who's dad/best friend has to go to war during the WWII conflict with Japan. He wants to end the war and bring his dad home. After attending a magic show, and being called upon by the magician as a volunteer, to stretch out his hands and telekinetically move a bottle across a table, the boy is convinced he has a magical power. One day, the Catholic priest (yes, the film is grounded in Catholicism, but it still has a valuable lesson) preaches on the text of 'having faith of a mustard seed', and how this is the key to ending the war. When the boy talks to the priest later, asking him how to use the mustard seed's power to supplement his magic (he took the text literally and got a mustard seed), the priest asks him to demonstrate his power and move a bottle across the desk.    Of course, this fails. But the boy persists, and i...

When did his crayon drawings become De Vincis?   Her arguments with her brother become a bachelor’s law degree? When did his trike become a truck?   And her dolls become real babies? How did life just fly by like a breeze?   Now he’s walking the aisle, newly married.   Now she’s got four kids of her own, ten, seven, five, and three They’re all grown up and gone today,  Their childhood forever past, You coulda been more a part, now its too late.       It didn’t happen in a day, It didn’t happen in a week,   It actually took forever. You were just too busy to see. Go to your job, punch the clock, work your rear off, earn a living. But time don’t stop for no one, yeah time just ain’t forgiving. So take some time, yeah take a breath, see how God has made you blessed.   Live for what really matters, He’ll do the rest.     There’s tearful faces gathered round the casket, Some barely knew much about him, before he passed in his s...

So, this isn’t a story I talk about much. It managed to shock my whole family, as they knew nothing about it. This is the story about how I almost became transgender. If you know me well at all, right now you’re thinking ‘what the heck?!?”   Well, yeah. It happened.   So, rewind my life to when I was really young and gullible. We’re talking probably 5-7 or so, I don’t know exactly. Whatever age I was at the time, I had a few misconceptions about reality. See, I was not aware of the fact that one’s gender is defined by particular physical traits. Add to that, I was surrounded by five sisters, one of whom was my only playmate most of my life. I only had two brothers at the time, and interacted with them very little.     So one day, the thought crossed my mind, what if I were to wake up some morning and discover that I was a girl? I saw no reason why that couldn’t happen.     Then I thought, ‘well, if it were possible I might one day wake as a gi...

Hello and welcome to my corner of the wide dark web. This is actually my second attempt at a blog, as my first one kinda fell through and was forgotten in the great void of time and space. To be fair, life has been crazy. Unfortunately, life will never cease to be un-crazy. I guess I'll just have to deal with it. Anyway, here, we discuss many, many things. Faith, politics, personality psychology, writing, backpacking, and much, much more. Please, enjoy your stay. Best regards, The Keener Way