Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone

Recently, I started reading The Gulag Archipelago, the life inside the communist concentration camps in Russia, written by the Nobel Prize laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. He said,

“One man who stopped lying could bring down a tyranny.” ~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

That stimulates my thoughts significantly because it’s so true. We have seen these people in our recent history, such as Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and Aung San Suu Kyi—...

Legend has it that a reporter asked Michelangelo, “How did you create this amazing sculpture from a block of marble?” His reply has fascinated everyone for hundreds of years.

“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there. I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” ~Michalangelo

I always wonder how the great artist knew the sculpture was in the marble block. I have ...

It has been a year since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, many people hoped some Russian leaders would stand up against him and remove the tyrant from office. So far, he is still standing strong after sacrificing so many lives. We might wonder when this will this end, or will it escalate to a world war?

History teaches us that dictators are symptoms but not the root cause because when a dictator is re...

According to the Global Agenda 2014 survey, 86 percent of people worldwide agree we have a leadership crisis around the world. Today this crisis continues to deepen. Even our own President Joe Biden is hampered by old age and an approval rating of just 38%. Why is the quality of global leadership plummeting?

I love reading books written by old people because they are packed with the wisdom of a lifetime. When I heard the 99-year-ol...

As a child, what small creatures scared you the most? I know most people fear spiders. I wasn’t afraid of spiders because my grandma loved them, and I learned to appreciate them from her. But I found caterpillars very scary and repulsive. They are poisonous, and the fuzzy tufts (tiny hairs) on caterpillars can cause an allergic reaction when they touch the skin.

However, our attitude toward caterpillars changed when we discovered t...

I wonder if you have ever seen a golden pheasant. It’s one of the most beautiful birds in the world. They are native to Western China, but you can also find them in the Western United States. There are many breeders nowadays because they are beautiful, and people are willing to pay a good price to buy them. The Chinese regard them as a symbol of good luck because they look like the Chinese mythological phoenix, especially when they...

There’s a human paradox. We all know we are social creatures, but at the same time, we often get hurt by social interactions. When I look at my emotional wounds, most of them are caused by people. Of course, there are self-inflicted wounds due to my own mistakes and stupidity, but there are many wounds inflicted by others—sometimes by strangers, sometimes by friends, and sometimes even by family members.

On the other hand, we canno...

The other day, I was with a group of parents and grandparents talking about the mistakes we made raising our children. Each of us shared our experiences and laughed our “guilt” out—we were laughing at one another’s stories but at the same time feeling so guilty for those mistakes. After hearing everyone’s stories, I felt relieved that I was not the only parent who made mistakes!

To err is human. However, some mistakes were not laug...

One of the major breakthroughs as we enter 2023 is the increasing accessibility to AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology, especially for writing and painting. Many of you have heard in the news lately that you can type a subject or headline on the computer, and it will write a pretty well-researched essay for you. You can ask AI to write an article or a blog post in seconds.

My son told me that AI could probably write my sermons ...

Happy New Year! What are your expectations for the year? I researched the forecast for 2023 and found many optimistic predictions, even though they are more toward the end of the year. For example, the pandemic will end globally by the end of the year. The economy will also recover by the end of the year.

Don’t be discouraged by the phrase “the end of the year.” At least we know the light is at the end of the tunnel. All’s well tha...

An expert in human development told me that a person’s foundation of faith and character is solidified by about 14 years old. That means if your child receives proper nurturing, discipline, and education, including attending Sunday School regularly before age 14, they are likely to turn out well.

After 14, they may go astray and explore dangerous territories like most teenagers. You will feel frustrated as parents as they stop list...

Legend has it that when John Lennon was in kindergarten, his teacher asked the class what they wanted to be when they grew up. Each kid stood up and voiced their dreams. “I want to be a doctor!”  “I want to be a teacher!”  “I want to be an engineer!” “I want to be a firefighter!”

When it came to John Lennon’s turn, he said, “I want to be happy!”  The teacher said, “John, that’s not my question. What do you want to BE when you grow ...

As we entered December, I heard people talking about their New Year’s resolutions already. Even though I’m a last-minute planner, I admire those who plan early. Some want to eat healthily in the New Year. That’s a great habit because food is medicine, and if you eat right, you will prevent many troubles down the line and save a huge amount of money on medical costs.

Some want to quit a bad habit, and some want to develop a good pra...

There is a Burmese idiom: “Drinking the Bitter Rain.” It came from a fable about a man in an ancient village who somehow foreknew that the upcoming rain would be poisonous. It would taste bitter and cause insanity if people drank it.

In that village, every home collected rainwater for drinking. So, he announced his forecast and warned people not to collect the upcoming rainwater and never drink from it, or they would become mentall...

This week, everyone has heard the news about Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), formerly known as the youngest billionaire in the world, suddenly being exposed as the biggest fraud, dragging down over a million investors with him.

Let’s analyze this case from a spiritual perspective on this Reign of Christ Sunday because there’s a life lesson for all of us to learn. Rember no one is an island. One man’s fall is everyone’s shame. So, let’s be...

Recently, I watched an inspiring Standford GSB (Graduate School of Business) interview with Eric Yuan, founder of Zoom—the video conferencing software. Many companies collapsed or faced a crisis during the pandemic, but Zoom blossomed into a ubiquitous communication app by turning the crisis into an opportunity for exponential growth.

I am sure all of you have used Zoom for family chats, business meetings, church gatherings, and gl...

When I was in college back in Burma, some of my friends loved to tease me about my faith. They asked, “You guys believe God is almighty? Can God make a giant rock that he cannot lift?” Without realizing it was a trap question, I said, “Of course, He can since he is almighty.” They said, “If so, can he then lift it?”

Seeing I was trapped, they laughed at me. If I said, “Yes, He can,” they would say, “Then, your God is not able to cr...

I’m sure most of you have heard Elon Musk closed the deal with Twitter this Thursday. You might have also seen the video of him carrying a sink into Twitter’s headquarter in San Francisco, tweeting, “Let that sink in.” People like him because he is hilarious and down-to-earth.

He bought Twitter for 44 billion, but many experts believe he had overpaid—at least about 20 billion. His purpose is to allow Twitter to be the global town s...

There are two kinds of stress or anxiety in life—Overt Stress and Covert Stress. Overt Stress is easy to recognize because it bogs us down and troubles our hearts. I also call it “Sour Stress.”

Covert Stress is “Sweet Stress” but more insidious. It makes you feel good and proud but sabotages you from the inside. For example, we all have seen many successful people in life destroyed by their own prosperity. In other words, prosperit...