Should I stay or should I go?

I am sure that you are aware of the huge population shifts that have occurred as a result of the worldwide pandemic. The virus that originated in China and spread throughout the entire world is the worst disaster of our times. Comparisons are constantly made between Covid and many other catastrophic historic events. Rightly so too. Who doesn’t conjecture about the similarities that exist between Covid-19 and the Black Death for instance?

These type of happenings always put people on the move for a variety of reasons. I am constantly reminded of this in Westchester County, New York. The real estate market here is crazy as a result of people wanting to escape the crime, lockdowns and loss of quality of life in Brooklyn and Manhattan. 

There are the New York team cheerleaders of course. Those who refuse to speak anything but positivity concerning New York City or its spill over cousin Brooklyn. However, the reality is far from that positive thinking version of the truth. Very, very far from the truth. In fact, that is a false narrative. Fake news. What are the facts? New York City is reeling and may not come back to enjoy the elitist status that it has come to enjoy over the years. 

Facts:  

Job Loss/ Huge Workplace Changes

Crime Increase/ Police Under-siege

Homes and Apartments that are too small.

No Opera, Ballet, or Broadway

Restaurant Experiences Not What It Used To Be

High Prices and High Cost of Living

The past couple of weeks, I have been engaged in spirited debates with friends who are looking at the pros and cons of a move. Here are several such stories.

Ron* has lived in New York City his whole life. He was born and raised there as was his mother and grandmother. He thinks New York City is the center of the universe. He knows New York like the back of his hand. He is the complete insider. However, his life has not been so rosy since the Covid virus hit. He is a landlord in NYC. 

There have been nervous tenants, enhanced cleanings, and a contractor who died of Covid. Taking his friend to the hospital to set a broken bone at the height of the Covid scare. Eating outdoors until his fingers turned blue. The fear of contracting Covid in such close quarters. The fear of tenants taking advantage of the rent leniency that was legislated during the epidemic. Also, lawsuits, city regulations and the possibility of increased taxes on his building to offset the financial crisis heading for the Big Apple. 

He was used to getting away for week-long trips now and then to release the inevitable stress that being a landlord brings. This has been difficult due to the current situation and has made Ron ponder the possibility of moving out of his building, and buying a place outside of the City. He could still manage his building. Also, by moving he would be releasing one more apartment to rent. That would be a way to increase his revenue. 

He has even begun to wonder if it is time to sell his building altogether and get out of this business. What if there are waves and waves of diseases? There is something vaguely creepy about the upcoming immunity passport in New York. It is called the Excelsior Pass. Ron doesn’t think it will be that easy to straighten things out. Will all this impact his long term business goals? He wonders this even though he owns a building  in one of the best areas of NYC, i.e. the Upper East Side. Of course he knows that if he sells his building now he won’t get nearly as much as he would have. Prices have tanked in NYC as people are moving out in droves. 

Then there is John*. John has been a widower for about five years. His kids are in college and he wonders if now is the time to move out of his house in Westchester. He sees his wife everywhere that he looks in their small town and home. He remembers their life together and feels unable to move forward. He sometimes thinks that he should be living somewhere he would have more activities that he could enjoy. What about a condo which has a pool or a golf course? He also lives in one of the highest taxed counties in the nation and it does not look like it will get better any time soon. 

Add to that his suburban block. It is full of young parents with their 2.5 children, dog, cat or ferret. He no longer feels as if he fits in. His friends tell him it is time to meet someone. He is not so sure. He and his wife had a beautiful partnership. How easy will it be to replace that? Also, he is stuck with how young his wife was and how quickly she passed away. I know he feels foolish saying that he can’t believe it happened but he can’t. 

John’s even looked at a place that his friend recommended. He was considering how nice it might be to have someone else mow and shovel for him. But, John was happy to have his backyard and roomy home to enjoy during lockdown. If he had bought that condo it would have been depressing stuck in his small condo because the pool and recreation room were closed. Still, he has been using this past year to begin to clean his house and get rid of some things. He is all packed up with no place to go. New plan for him, maybe Florida?

Then there is Mary*. Mary was originally from South America. She was married to a Portuguese man for many years. They went through a nasty divorce some time ago. They had one daughter together and now have two grandsons. Mary’s daughter Maggie* has just informed her mother that she has put in for a job transfer from the United States to Portugal. Furthermore, she has started the paperwork necessary for her and her family to relocate.

Mary was blindsided by the news. Her daughter had not included her in the preliminary planning of this move so it was a complete shock. Now, Mary is facing the prospect of uprooting her life here in New York to move to Portugal. What choice does she have? She wants to see her grandsons grow up. Also, she is not certain if there will be lockdowns in the future because of one virus variant or another and she can not stand the idea of being so far away from her grandchildren if that should happen. 

The truth is Mary is getting old and her arthritis has been getting worse. Although Maggie has not been that supportive of her mother in the past, she is hoping that her daughter would be there if she needed her help. I am not so sure. Mary and Maggie have had a cold and distant relationship for as long as I knew them. Maggie blames her mother for her parents divorce. There is a lot Maggie does not know and Mary has not wished to malign her ex-husband in his daughter’s eyes. Everyone else that I know wishes she would since he was such a cad. But, Mary is correct to believe a parent should not put their children in the middle of their marital issues. Is this a good move for her? It will not be easy given the cold way that her daughter treats her but, she must try to reach some sort of accord with her daughter and stay close to her family. 

Then there is me. During lockdown, my friend Leila* escaped the harsh reality of her life by looking at real estate listings. She kept thinking despite the virus fallout that it was a great time to buy due to interest rates being so low. She was triple washing anything that came into her apartment, and changing her clothes every time she came home from a shopping trip but, somehow she thought it was okay to go into strangers homes as she tried to upgrade from an apartment to a house here in Westchester. 

She would call me frequently to go over listings that she had found and ask my advise. She had never bought a house before and came to me for some insight into the process. It made me feel so smart when I would catch things that she had missed. It wasn’t too hard really but, catching her mistakes became a sport for me. Leila, I know that area of Pleasantville. You drove by during the start of Covid that is why you did not see traffic but ordinarily that street will be very busy.

Or, Leila you are working from home now but should you ever have to see clients in person again, they will not wish to drive that far. Then there was the lovely property in North Tarrytown. It looked cute in the pictures until you looked in the backyard and saw the ancient pool. Leila that pool is going to cost a fortune to take out and replace. She wanted to take it out and expand the house. Not so fast said I, there are rules, regulations and permits involved. We debated this and she asked me to meet her for a walk around the outside of the property.

I was so serious. Did you know that I was on the serious side? I bet you did. I even had a clip board with a checklist and it was a good thing that I did because Leila was like a babe in the woods as regards homes. Leila, this retaining wall looks like it needs to be replaced. The roof is at the end of its’ life span, the siding is shot and the pool is a major construction project. It looked much better on the real estate listing.

Then there was the church retreat in Ossining which she wanted to convert into a business center. Except, when we arrived we found two squatting families hesitant to leave. They were actively trying to dissuade my friend by saying how many things were wrong with the property. If it was so bad why don’t they want to leave? When I purposely countered their claims about how bad the property was, they even tried to scare us womenfolk with tales of snakes on the property. That was all Leila needed to hear. She was outta there.

In the process of helping Leila I started to think about how fun it might be to get a new place. I would search along with her at first in Westchester and then expand my search to Upstate New York, Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, and Pennsylvania. It was as if I was traveling again, in my head anyway. I didn’t need a green pass, an excelsior pass or to be scrutinized with an enhanced drivers license. 

A trip in my head was great but, then the possibility of getting out of New York began to take seed with me. After all, I have read my blogs! Why am I here? Sure, it is mission territory and I have God’s work to do everyday. A day never goes by when I don’t have an opportunity to tell someone about Jesus. However, is this the time to turn my back on Sodom and Gomorrah and not look back? The more that I thought about it, the more that it made sense.

So, we have actually taken several trips and looked at some properties. The first properties that we looked at were in New York State. The taxes and the hostility toward the Christian lifestyle made us think of our options outside of New York. It makes me a little sick really. I have lived here my whole life. In New York they train you young to think that New York is the center of everything. You can’t get better than New York. The best medical care, the best food, the best arts and entertainment. That has all fallen apart or maybe it was all hype to begin with. All I know is that when I visit states where people are mannerly, friendly, Christian and conservative I feel a certain joy. A joy that I haven’t felt in a long time. 

I just had a conversation with an 84 yr old woman. She described her childhood church in New York in all it’s vibrancy. God has been replaced in New York since then. Replaced with yoga, Buddhism, and atheists. Every perversion is running wild. Is it time for me to leave? Maybe so.

* the names are changed to protect privacy but the stories are true.

My Hairdresser

It seems to me, I have a pattern of getting involved with abusive hairdressers. Take my last one for instance, Mariah*. In the beginning it was so good. She would greet me with a smile, take my coat, ask me if I wanted coffee, tea or a glass of water. She would put little eyeglass leg protectors on my glasses so that I could read or write my blog while my hair dye was setting. It started out like many a romantic relationship does, best foot forward and all that. Somewhere down the line, things began to change. Suddenly, she was forgetting all her manners. I had to beg her for a cup of coffee or to get some eyeglass leg protectors. I had to put those protectors on myself at times. No more amenities and Westchester prices too!

That isn't all! She started to get rough in her handling of my hair. I mean ouch rough. She was pulling my hair constantly and brushing it too hard. I told her to please be more gentle. Then there was the hair dye in my eyes on numerous occasions! After I complained a few times, she acted as if I was being too sensitive. That did not work with me and I continued to call her attention to it. Now, if this were indeed a romance, this would be the part when you realize that your partner was taking you for granted.

The backdrop for this particular abusive relationship began when Mariah and her husband's marriage was ending several years ago. She discussed this topic frequently at the salon. No matter how much pain we are in, it is never a good idea to bring those problems to the work place.

We need to have or develop networks for dealing with our problems in another setting. It can be at church, with family, with friends and if need be with a counselor. I tried to be as supportive as I could be. Seeing the pain she was in, I invited her to church several times. She did not come to church but, she did accept an open invitation to lunch at my house on her days off. This became a regular thing over the years. Mariah did love my cooking! During her visits, my husband and I saw just how wounded she was. That knowledge caused me to stay longer in this situation than I should have.

Mariah knew that my husband and I were Christians. I am always inspired and hopeful of what the Lord can do in someone’s life. Especially when one is at a turning point such as Mariah was at. We prayed at lunch. We spoke often about the biblical template for marriage. During her separation from her husband, beautiful Mariah had started talking to a guy she knew in high school. He was now in the process of divorcing for the second time. I wanted better for Mariah in a relationship than what she had with her soon to be ex-husband. I knew that this would not be possible without the Lord in her life.

But, apparently she was going from one bad relationship to the next. At first she told me that she couldn’t have got through her divorce without Ike.* He apparently was her rock. He did this all through the power of telephone, text messaging and facebook while he resided in Texas and her abode was in Westchester County, New York. Wow, he was like her own version of the invisible and available god. 

But, rather quickly just as all false gods will, he disappointed her. And, he just kept on disappointing her time after time. From the beginning, he did not seem very interested in seeing her in person. That seems odd don’t you think? As my husband says, when a man is interested in a woman, he can’t wait to see her. He will move mountains to arrange it. 

So, with my blessing and what must be one of my epic advice failures, I encouraged her to go down to San Antonio, Texas to explore the situation. I had traveled to this lovely part of Texas and had a wonderful time. There are so many fun things to do in that vicinity.  Plus, Mariah needed a vacation after her nasty divorce.

I have literally never advised a woman to chase a man and I was not advising that this time. However, so much time had elapsed since she began chatting with Ike online that I thought that a meeting must be arranged. I told her that when she and Ike had dinner and took a walk along the famous San Antonio River Walk that some clarity would come to her situation.

I also shared with this un-churched woman the no-sex before marriage Judeo-Christian concept. I sincerely felt that in her post-divorce void she was open to reviewing her life and her doctrines. She assured me that she had booked some local tours and wanted to meet Ike and formally begin their post-high school acquaintanceship over dinner and nothing more.

My fears of a post-divorce hookup were far from the reality of the situation. Instead, it would be two years of an entirely virtual relationship with terrible lies and deceptions throughout. It started with Ike phoning Mariah to tell her that he had to cancel dinner as his teenage son was in the hospital due to an accident he acquired while base jumping.

Yes, base jumping. Some call it an urban sport, others just cringe thinking about it. I am of the latter disposition. Mariah was worried and genuinely concerned. She wanted to meet Ike at the hospital to offer any support that she could. He assured her that his soon to be ex-wife would make a terrible scene if he brought a woman to the hospital. So she worried and waited in her motel room. She was not interested in enjoying all the fun that San Antonio had to offer but, instead waited by her phone lest Ike should need her. This ended up to be a destructive pattern that she continued for two full years. A crisis, a disappointment, drama, confusion and loneliness. 

She had a week in San Antonio and spent most of that time on her own. Ike did manage to meet her for a drink in San Antonio a short time before she was due to head to the airport. He asked her to pay for her half of the drink bill. Of course Mariah completely understood Ike was not himself and that this was due to his son’s terrible accident. She admired his concern and commitment to his son. 

But over time, she started to question his stories since they almost always culminated in him getting out of a visit to Mariah. He was either too busy at work, he was busy with his sons, or divorce proceedings. The list went on and on and always seem to culminate in his cancellation of their plans and always at the last minute. Everyone in Mariah’s life were suspicious of this man and not happy with her relationship with him. So was I. I advised her to bring it up and ask him point blank what was going on. Heck, I wanted a private investigator to look into him. Either that or call one of the television programs that investigate online romantic frauds.

How many times would a man have to cancel plane trips to see you before you broke off with him? What is the statistical probability that so many things could happen to one man whenever he was suppose to see a woman? Some of the worst things he did were: ask her to send him money at Christmas to get his teenage son a mountain bike. Poor Mariah, not rich to begin with, was now hurting from an unequal distribution of marital assets in her divorce but, she gave away her rent money because Ike assured her that the money would be returned to her before the next billing cycle. 

That didn’t happen and she ended up nagging him and begging him for her money back. He did eventually return her money but not before it caused hardship to Mariah. Then there was the Valentine catastrophe! My husband told me that on Valentine’s Day a man will show his true feelings. That day is sort of a Rohrschac Test measuring a man’s interest level. Ike told Mariah the he was sending her something in the mail from Texas.

Everyday, Mariah would go to the mailbox like a child awaiting a letter from Santa. It was sad when she would text me her reports at the mailbox. Nothing today. Nothing today. Nothing today. It went on like this until Valentine’s Day. The jig was up now and she called him up angrily addressing the situation. He admitted that he had not sent anything and offered no explanation. This was crazy.

I realized early on that Mariah’s divorce had been a terrible turning point in her life. She went a little crazy. I also realized that she had no biblical expectations of truth or covenant love. What could I do except use the opportunity to continually drop bible verses and biblical principles to live by hoping that she would compare and contrast the worldly system that she ran her life by and that of the godly system that would lead her to understand what a good relationship could be like. This could culminate into acceptance of Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

In the meantime while she leaned on me to help her understand and make sense of her and Ike’s relationship my monthly appointments got worse and worse. She seemed so obsessed with Ike at her hair cutting station that she could not properly concentrate on doing my hair. It got worse month after month. In the end, I ended up leaving Mariah. It was hard for me, I had been with her for years but the relationship had turned abusive both professionally and personally. It got to the point where Mariah didn’t even ask how I was doing before talking about her problems with Ike.

This even though she knew that my husband was sick. I started to dread going to the beauty salon because I knew I would have some scissor snips to my skin or stuff dropped in my eye. She would speak of nothing but Ike, get into fights with co-workers and have screaming matches all while trying to blow-out my hair. Now, I know this is New York but, it was time for me to end this relationship. I had given her plenty of opportunities to change her behavior.

Now I am with Chloe.* I think this is going to last too. We have been together about a year and a half and we are still going strong. The atmosphere in the salon is restful, and the service is good. 

* the names are changed but these crazy things really happened in Westchester County, New York. 

Moral Compass

If our thoughts were electromagnetism and God was north and the devil was south, which direction would your moral compass be pointing to? Would it be true north, pointing directly towards God and leading others in that direction? Or, would it be mañana for you Jesus, I am taking a sin vacation down south?  

Esther* is 85 yrs old. She is an intelligent and caring woman who is always praying for others but, it seems like her moral compass is askew. During Covid lockdown she has watched a lot of 📺 those television preachers. It has comforted her a great deal. There is power in the message of the Bible. The trouble is she never really sees the meaning of that message in her daily life. She is too busy being vain, haughty or a nice agreeable old lady. She has a lot of worldly social posturing positions.

The problem is that in so doing, her little moral compass has started to shift. She appears no different from ever other stuck-up Westchester County, New York maven who likes to put on airs. However, she still wants to be used of God. She recognizes this too. She has told me multiple times,”I’m not really a mature Christian. you know it and I do too.” Doesn’t she seem kind of comfortable where she is at? 

We all get comfortable where we are at. We get set in our ways, or we develop some bad habits. When habits form it can be hard to break them. Some things that come to mind: bad posture, staying up too late, smoking or drinking. I can go on: comfortable in a job that we should leave, dating some one who is obviously not right for us. There are a lot of bad spiritual habits too. 

Missing church, or not engaged in the process. Whether you attend church in person or through a live-streaming event, we should all be on time. We should be prepared. Breakfast should be over. Our Bibles should stand ready to reference and we should be dressed as if we were meeting in-person. Do not be making tea during the opening music!

I became aware that Esther was doing that because I had to livestream some church services and phone her to give her audio since, like many elderly folks she does not have an up-to-date device able to access our church’s online events. Esther misses the in-church discussions of sermons at the church’s coffee hours and, after church lunches with Christian friends. With less and less live time at church, the temptation to compromise has begun. Esther is like the early church in Cyprus, readily accepting faith but, not inclined towards spiritual maturity. Her moral compass was never quite pointing where it should have been, and now since Covid it has been getting a bit worse. However, she still had a desire to do better and asked me for some direction.

Prakash* has had several life changing years. He went off to college three years ago. He left behind an unsatisfactory home and social life if you hear him tell it. Although, he loves his family tremendously, he always felt a disconnect. His father had an enormously successful import/export business, and his mother had a busy dermatology practice. His grandmother kept things running smoothly at home. He felt there was no room or place ever made to meet his emotional needs. His family did not place a lot of value on doing that either.

He did well in his Westchester county high school and graduated near the top of his class. That is no small feat in this competitive environment. However, his social life was another story. He really had no friends at all. The closest thing he had to a peer relationship was with Carly* whom he met in junior year. She was a rebellious black clad, green hair streaked, student with failing grades.

She was an outsider and he was an outsider so, it worked. She tried to convert him to her 🖤 emo way of life and he tried to get her to study. They started to have boyfriend/girlfriend feelings for each other in their senior year of high school. How far that went, I have no idea. All I know is that this did not culminate in a prom date and that it fell apart when he went off to college. 

A most amazing thing happened during his freshman year at the university. He became aware of a campus meeting of Christians and he was curious about it. He was trying to find some meaning to his life and wondered if this could help. He was a little bit daunted because he had not heard any good things about Christians at his Westchester County schools or in the entertainment that he voraciously consumed. In fact, it was the exact opposite. 

Pushing through his initial misapprehensions proved to be a life-changing event for him when he made a decision to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He is now even contemplating baptism! He has not only made friends but, he has learned the Christian meaning of that term and he is no longer the morose teenager that I knew. He has joined a Christian discussion group and Bible study on campus. 

Although Prakash is back doing in-classroom studies, he spent some time back home when the virus first hit and shut everything down. That is when he abruptly approached me at a local supermarket. I hardly knew Prakash. I had become acquainted with his father and mother when I did a little import/export business. Then, when I ran into them at some local classical music venues, we got better acquainted.

His parents would stop and chat with me when Prakash was growing up. He seemed shy and uncommunicative. Now, his demeanor had completely changed and his boldness towards me was surprising. He re-introduced himself, in case I did not remember him, and he asked me a rather unexpected question. “Are you a Christian?’ What with the unexpected question and the garbled way that it came through his mask, I thought that I had misunderstood.”

For housewives like me, I think the supermarket is the modern day agora. I can’t believe all the things that happen to me there. Anyone remember my old blog post, Forgiveness at the Supermarket? My hesitation caused him to repeat his question, “are you a Christian?” He said this rather loudly the second time and some people looked our way. He had my attention now. Thoughts vaguely ran through my head such as, are the soldiers coming now? Or, how did he know that? I imagined his father telling him, son she is a nice lady who knows a lot about classical music but she is one of those crazy Christians, so be careful!

When I affirmed my status as a believer, a look of relief came over him and his eyes went from a squint to relaxed and his posture relaxed. How the rest of his face looked, I can not say. If I had to pick him out in a lineup, I can only give his height, weight and those features above his mask. Thank God, I don’t know any believers in town and I need some godly counsel. 

I had a lot of questions for him but, now was not the time. I listened as he described his past relationship with Carly, his conversion story and finally about his current dilemma. Since coming back to town, he had become re-entangled in this sorted and difficult relationship. He felt drawn to her like a magnet which was helping point his compass due south.

As I thought of Esther and Prakash and endeavored to give each of them some godly counsel I couldn’t help but think of the many ways that Paul dealt with these exact situations. Paul in his first letter to the church of Thessalonica said this, But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children- 1Thessalonians  2:7. I believe this so aptly describes the process of teaching either a new believer such as Prakash or an immature believer such as Esther. I should try to be patient and teach them the way that I did my young children. I would spend a lot of time sounding our letters and words with them. B-B-B, say B-A-L-L, now say S-P-A-GH-E-T-T-I! I spent a lot of time on that last one. 

So many churches focus on bringing lost souls to the Lord and then fail to properly teach and help that individual to grow in their new found faith. My church is not like that. My pastor is focused on teaching the Bible to new and old believers alike. He preaches and teaches the Bible. So many people are inmature Christians because they fail to study the Bible.

I kept that in mind before I opened my mouth to speak to either Esther or Prakash. I gave each of them homework which was to study Chapter 4 in Ephesians. It is instructive and thought-provoking on the topic of Christian maturity. For Esther a long-time believer, it was time to tell her gently but truthfully how to move forward. That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive- Ephesians 4:14. My hope for Esther is expressed in the following verse of Ephesians, But speaking the truth in love, many grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ- Ephesians 4:15. 

I asked Prakash if he is attending church in his hometown and he answered in the negative. He was however, live-streaming services in his college town quietly in his bedroom so his parents and grandmother could not hear it. I asked him if either his family or Carly knows that he is a Christian. The look of tension came right back into his eyes, and his body tensed immediately. He began to breath rapidly behind his mask. 

No, I haven’t told anyone here in ********. I will though. I have been praying for God to help me have the courage and the right words to explain it. I let Prakash know that his testimony to me was quite compelling. I also let him know of a christ-centered church that was a few blocks from his house. I invited him to my church too even though it was not as close. I commiserated on the difficulty of sharing our faith with others. 

There would be turmoil when he shared this news with his Hindu family. As for Carly, I shared with Prakash my sincere hope that sharing the gospel message would be a lifeline to a young lady who was looking for some meaning in her life. I told him that I would be praying for him and then it was time to check out before my lettuce wilted.

I did not see Prakash again until a recent mid-winter school brake. During his return home, guess who he ran into? Yes, he ran into Carly. Rather than tell her he was a Christian, he fell back into his former mindset of dysfunction. Instead of a new life in Christ for her, it was the old life of sin for him. Now, his moral compass was completely reversed again. I could see it on his face.

I wondered what had happened to him. He looked a bit more closed, and a little bit meaner. Even though he was trying to dodge me or pretend he did not know me in the supermarket, I went right down that aisle with an arrow that said I was going in the wrong direction and chased him down. He did not seem happy to see me and he was more than a little embarrassed it seemed. Prakash, how are you, and how did everything go with your family and Carly? He answered that he was in a hurry and he really did not want to talk about it.

I told him that I understood. Not only that but, I had experienced the persecution for being a believer that he had. He seemed to soften to me. He told me that Carly and he had hooked back up again. Even his language let me know that things were not okay with Prakash. Hooked up Prakash, are you in a godly relationship? He let me know that he was going through some things right now and he is not where he was in our last conversation. 

I again reiterated that I totally understood but to please read Ephesians chapter 4 this evening when he had a moment because I think it would help him to understand the spiritual stage that he was in a little better. I quickly pulled up this Bible portion on my phone for his consideration.

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness, but, ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind- Ephesians 4:17-23.

Is that a tear I saw falling down his mask? Good luck Esther and Prakash!

* the name of a town and people have been changed or deleted for their privacy.