The Venerable Duch Tel with Wayne Dale Matthysse October 2024 We were both renegades of sorts… non-conformists to different belief systems that at the time were being challenged by the HIV and AIDS epidemic that was taking the lives of so many Khmer citizens, back in the early 2000s. Duch Tel was a subordinate Buddhist…
Sorry for the silence these past couple of months but decisions at my age are not easy to make. I have missed Cambodia very much but because of my health was not sure that I could return, especially with the changes that have occurred in the Wat Opot Community. My health has improved and I…
When I was young, the Universe seemed much smaller than it does today. There was the Sun, the Moon, and a lot of stars in the nighttime sky that I assumed God had placed there to block the view of the Heavenly home, where He and His Son Jesus lived. I imagined it to be…
Lovable is not a word one would use to describe Chhang … and he was well aware of that. At one time, before the sores started, his looks were a little more tolerable but he never did gain weight in his lifetime, and having AIDS was something he could not hide from others. Too weak…
I haven’t thought about self-fulfilling prophesies for some time now, even though I have had my suspicions that many of the major experiences in my Life could have come about because I thought about them beforehand. A good example of this would be my Vietnam experience. Before I enlisted in the Navy back in 1966,…
I have a feeling,That in the end of time as we now know it, When all things are revealed in their completeness,We will discover,That the only differences between us, Were… like the spectrum of light,That radiates from a perfectly cut diamond, The subtle variations in how each of us manifested,The many Reflections of GOD. It…
To search for Truth beyond Oneself, Will only cause despair. No book contains the answers, No guide can lead you there. Created in His Image, Our hearts contain the Key. Learn to Love Yourself, And from doubt, you will be freed. I have had conversations with friends who are still stuck in Christianity. They are…
I attended a Christian church service a while back… a rare occasion for me, unless I am visiting with foster children (now adults) whom I once took care of in Honduras. Many of them are now very active in Christianity and some are even pastors of their own congregations. It was a good experience and…
He comes and goes as he pleases and works behind the scenes. Most times we are not even aware of his presence until he is ready to steal another from us. The children may become restless or the dogs bark more than usual in the night… but we choose to ignore these things… for to…
In the North, there are not a lot of travelers or large cities to worry about so it was easy to make good time. Cruising at 100 mph is easy to do in a Thunderbird when you are the only one on the road. Everything was going fine until I hit the upper peninsula of…
General Vandegrift was a feisty old man who at one time could demand as much respect as his Army counterpart and close friend General Eisenhower, They had been boyhood buddies and had decided their roles in history long before anyone even knew their names. When I met him however he was bedridden and blind and…
How does one begin to write the final chapter of their Life, knowing that the last two words, THE END, will be added by someone other than themselves? I have escaped the scythe of the Grim Reaper on so many occasions, in previous chapters of my Life, and it would be nice to think I…
The Answer is not a Word or a Phrase, It cannot be found in Worship or Praise, The Answer is not in the things that you do, To put it quite simply the Answer is YOU! For years one of my favorite songs was ‘Jesus is the Answer’ and I sang it from the bottom…
“There is a Wine that flows from the Vineyards of the Lord, Its sweetness aged in jars of clay Its price none can afford. And wise men say that he who tastes It’s sweetness on his tongue, Will understand the Mind of God and evil overcome.” With tear-filled eyes, a dying father passed these words on to…
I have lived an interesting and adventurous Life, full of wonderful joyous occasions but also times of great despair and sadness. I have taken chances and put myself in harm’s way far too often, however, because of luck, destiny, or karma, I somehow managed to make it to an old age. As I look back,…
