My Life Story

The Lord Stood By Me and Gave Me Strength

The Life and Legacy of Gary F. Zeolla

Author, Bible Translator, Champion Powerlifter

(2025 Edition)

My Life Highlights

Author of Christian, fitness, and politics books, websites, and newsletters
(written from a conservative Christian and politically conservative perspective)

B.S. in Nutrition Science; Denver Seminary Attendee

Founded Darkness to Light ministry in 1991

Bible Translator and Commentator

Holder of fifteen All-time powerlifting world records and over 100 federation records

I thank the LORD I have accomplished so much
despite dealing with a multitude of health problems throughout my life.

Life Bible verse: “But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength” (2Tim 4:17a; ALT3c).

Introduction

With my five websites, two newsletters, over 40 books, and decades of powerlifting, I have had many people ask me about my background, so below is an autobiography. I first wrote this bio in 2008, but I try to update it every year or two. Each time I do, I tend to add to it, so it has gotten a bit lengthy and more personal over time.

It is now about 1-1/2 hours read time. But if you take the time to read through it, you’ll know all there is to know about me, at least what I care to share publicly. Since I’ve had questions about it, for the correct pronunciation of my name, click here.

The glasses in the preceding picture are new. I got them a week before my 64th birthday. I’ve been using readers for years. But it got to the point I was reaching for them all the time, so it was time to take the plunge and get bifocals.

Notes: The last major update of this bio was during Holy Week (mid-April) 2025, then new material was added and this page redesigned and retitled in mid-June 2025. The links to Amazon are advertising links, for which I receive a commission in addition to my royalty if a product is purchased after following the link.

High School and College

I was born in 1961 near Pittsburgh, PA. I ran track in junior high school. My best time (if I remember correctly) was 6.3 seconds for the 50-yard dash. I wrestled in middle high school. I “lettered” in tenth grade. Most of the matches I won were not due to skill or speed but due to me being stronger than my opponent. This was in part due to being naturally strong and in part due to having been lifting weights in my basement since junior high school.

However, it was in high school that I found the sport that I really loved when I entered two bench press contests. I bombed out of the first contest, mainly due to my form being terrible. But I joined a gym after that and learned how to do the lift correctly. I entered the same contest a year later and won a trophy. The meet director said if there was a trophy for “most improved lifter” I would have won that as well. And with that, I was “hooked” on powerlifting.

I graduated from high school in 1979. I then went to Penn State University and majored in Nutrition Science. It was in in college that I began entering full powerlifting contests (squat, bench press, and deadlift), and I did very well. I was a two-time Pennsylvania Collegiate Powerlifting Champion, winning Best Lifter the second year. I won National Collegiate Powerlifting Championships my sophomore year in the 114-pound weight class and was runner-up at Nationals my junior year at 123s. I broke every PA state collegiate record in both weight A person lifting a barbell

AI-generated content may be incorrect. classes (except for the bench at 114s) and one national collegiate record (425 pound squat at 123s). I also had won a whole wall-full of trophies. It should also be noted that this was at a time when there was only one powerlifting federation (the USPF), so the championships and records were true championships and records.

My plans at that time were that I would make a name for myself with my lifting, and then between my lifting experience and my nutrition degree, I would open a gym and be able to counsel people in both exercise and diet. Therefore, I had had planned on starting a personal trainer service long before “personal trainer” even became a term, let alone a profession.

If you had asked me back then who I was, I would have replied that I was Gary Zeolla, the Powerlifter. My whole identity was wrapped up in my athletic abilities. But in my senior year in college, it all came crashing down. Health problems forced me to stop competing and eventually to stop lifting weights altogether.

On other matters, in high school, I was basically a loner, dating very little and having few friends. In college, I dated some, but not much. I was in one relationship that lasted the one summer that I spent at Penn State (1982), but it ended badly. I was friends with other members of the Penn State Barbell Club and had a few “drinking buddies.” But that was about it. I had little concern for spiritual matters through high school and college. I went to Catholic church until I was 18, but only because my parents wanted me to. But in college, I never gave church nor God any thought.

Post-College

I graduated from college in 1983. Since I could no longer lift weights let alone compete, I pretty much lost interest in the opening a gym and personal trainer idea. Needless to say, this was emotionally devastating. To go from being a national champion powerlifter to being crippled by health problems was just too much to take. Watching my formerly muscular body waste away wasn’t very pleasant either. With losing my career plans, I was left with no direction in life. I ended up working as a short-order cook at various establishments over the next several years.

As a result, I was quite a mess. As with many people, it took hitting rock bottom before I began looking up and considering spiritual issues. But I was not one to “just believe” something to make myself feel better. As a result, I began doing a lot of reading and searching on my own. I studied the teachings and integrity of the various religions and philosophies the world has to offer.

After about three years, I became convinced the Christian faith was the only belief system that was logically and historically sound. But if the Christian faith was true, that meant I was a sinner, condemned before God, in need of a Savior. After much struggle over this admission, in the winter of 1986, God brought me to my knees as I repented of my sins and placed my faith in Jesus Christ. It was that faith in Christ that enabled me to deal with all that was going wrong in my life.

Through the 1980s, I attended several Christian singles groups. I made some friends at these groups and dated some as a result, but again, not much. I was in one rather good relationship that lasted a summer in the mid-80s, but unfortunately, things did not work out. Another relationship that winter ended badly.

Eventually, I decided to go to seminary. I chose Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary and moved to Denver, Colorado in March of 1988. I began working towards a Master’s degree in Philosophy of Religion. I was doing very well, getting all As and Bs in my classes, with the As being in classes most directly related to my major. Unfortunately, my health worsened while in Denver, which lead to financial problems. As a result, I was forced to leave seminary with two-thirds of the credits necessary for graduation completed. I moved back to western Pennsylvania in December of 1990.

While in Denver, I made a few friends, but didn’t date at all.

Darkness to Light

After returning to Pennsylvania, with the backing of my then church (an Evangelical Free church), I started Darkness to Light, a Christian ministry. It began with the publication of a hardcopy newsletter in July 1991. The name for the ministry comes from Acts 26:18:

“… to open their eyes [in order] to turn [them] back from darkness to light and [from] the authority of Satan to God, [in order for] them to receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among the ones having been sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18; ALT3c; bolding added).

It is my belief that people turn from darkness to light when they come to believe the teachings of the Bible and live in accordance with them. The purpose statement for Darkness to Light is, “Explaining and Defending the Christian Faith.”

However, in September 1998, I had to stop publication of the hardcopy newsletter due to my health situation. But I had already set up a website for Darkness to Light in July 1996, which continues to this day. The website currently has over 1,200 pages. Posted on the site are articles dealing with Christian theology, apologetics (defense of the Christian faith), cults, ethics, Bible versions, and much more. I also began to have books published in 2000, including a translation of the Bible, the Analytical-Literal Translation (ALT). The ALT now includes both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The above Scripture quote is from my translation. I also started a free email newsletter in September 2003, which now has about 1,000 subscribers.

To date, I have published over 170 issues of the Darkness to Light newsletter. All of the back issues are posted on the website, as is subscription information. For more on DTL, see the articles under “About this Ministry” on the About page.

Fitness Website and Powerlifting Again

Along with the Christian content, I eventually began posting information on my website about the health problems I was suffering with and how I was dealing with them. I did so as it was my hope that my experiences would be of help to others.

Then in the summer of 2002, my health situation seemed to be improving, so I began working out with free weights for the first time in almost two decades. Then in April of 2003, I entered my first powerlifting in 21 years. Shortly thereafter, my health took another turn for the worse and has remained very poor ever since. But I continued to lift weights as it seemed to benefit my health situation, which my doctors concurred with. I also continued to compete until June 2009.

For the years 2003 to 2009, I was either the #1 or #2 ranked master (over 40 years old) lifter in the USA in the 114 pound weight class (I am 5’0”). I also always ranked near the top of the Top 100 charts for all ages. I set or broke 48 powerlifting records, set in five different powerlifting federations, while winning Best Lifter at three contest. For further details, see My Powerlifting Accomplishments.

When I began lifting again, I also began posting articles about powerlifting and fitness in general on my DTL website. But it seemed out of place to keep posting so much material on health, powerlifting, and fitness on a Christian site, so I decided to start a new website. That new site is called Fitness for One and All. It went online July 12, 2003. The purpose statement for this site is “Helping people to attain their health, fitness, and performance goals.” I also began publishing a free FitTips for One and All email newsletter.

The name “Fitness for One and All” reflects the diversity of the material covered in the articles and other items seen on the website and in the newsletter. There truly is information in these sources that are directed to people with a wide variety health, fitness, and performance goals. But the largest section is admittedly the section on Powerlifting and Strength Training.

There are now over 1,000 pages on the site, and the newsletter has about 200 subscribers. To date, I have published over 170 issues of the FitTips for One and All newsletter. All of the back issues are posted on the website, as is subscription information.

My Life Today

I dated someone for about 2-1/2 during the mid-90s, but when my health took a turn for the worse, it was not possible to continue the relationship. However, in retrospect, I probably just used that health setback as an excuse to end the relationship, as I knew it was just not right. As such, I thought it best to end it and let the woman find someone who was right for her.

Whatever the case there, I have dated very little since then, as my health makes it difficult to do so. In addition, the rare times I might have had a chance with someone, I always seem to do or say the wrong thing at the wrong time and or not do or say the right thing at the right time and mess things up. That has been the case throughout my life, much to my frustration. As a result, I never got married. Also due to my health situation, I have had few real life friends.

My health is such now that I basically live an isolated life. This is mainly due to suffering from Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). I rarely leave my home and have little social life. But my parents have always been there for me, though my mom passed away on my birthday in March 2017 (see Mom went to be with the LORD). With her gone, I live with my dad, so we help each other out and keep each other company. I also see some of my other family members on special occasions. I never had children. However, I have one sibling, an older brother, and through him a niece and two nephews and through them six great-nephews and three great-nieces.

I’ve never been able to be much a part of their lives as I would like to be. But I try to attend my family’s get-togethers as much as possible, though I miss some of them. The most recent was for Christmas 2024. But below is a picture of the entire clan from Easter 2024, now numbering 20.

Everyone in this picture is here because of my dad, Nick Zeolla (to the far right). Each of us is one of his descendants or is the SO of one. But the only person here because of me is me (fourth from the right). When someone in the future does the Zeolla family tree, I will be a lone twig off to the side.

As a result, I often feel out of place at family gatherings, as I am the only adult who is not married with children. Well, my dad is widowed, so he is not married, but he was, and even my oldest great-nephew is now paired up. And I feel uncomfortable with all the children running around, as I am not used to being around kids.

It has also been strange that throughout my life, I have never had anyone in the family ask me why I never got married or how I feel about being single or try to “fix me up” with someone. I say that as often single adults complain about their families continually badgering them as to why they are not married and trying to fix them up with someone. My mom is the only one who ever expressed any concern in this regard. In a way, I wish I had found someone before she went to be with the LORD, as I know it would have made her happy to see me with someone before she passed.

For further details on these aspects of my life, see the next to last chapter in my book God’s Sex Plan: Volume Two: What the New Testament Teaches About Human Sexuality. But here, I thank God for the Internet. At least I am able to communicate with and make friends with people online. I still get emails from people commenting on my websites and books, though not near as much as I used to. I also participate regularly on social media. My handle on all social media is GZeolla (except Instagram is GZeolla1). For details see, My Social Media Pages.

Given my health situation, it is not possible for me to work outside of my home, so I have a home office set up where I do my writing and work on my websites, newsletters, and books. But I am only able to work a very limited number of hours a day and per week, so I am not able to accomplish near as much as I would like to. That is also why I am self-employed, as there is no way I could work for someone else, even remotely. That would almost certainly require meeting deadlines, but there are often days when I get little or no work done due to a flare-up of one health problem or another. That means, I need to work for myself, so that I can work when I am able, and not work when I am not able.

Also due to my health situation, I couldn’t handle going to a commercial gym anymore, so I had no choice but to set up a home gym over 20 years ago and work out at home. Having a home office and home gym makes things very convenient, but also very lonely. But I thank the LORD for both my home office and my home gym, so that I can continue those activities.

I have never had a major problem with my MCS at powerlifting contests. I can only assume adrenaline gets me through the grueling day that is a powerlifting contest. But I always crash severely afterwards, so I only enter one or two contests a year, and I only enter contests that are within a 3-4 hour driving distance from my home, as a lengthy travel would have made things too difficult.

Between 2003-2009, I entered ten contests. I once again did very well, breaking not just federation records but now All-time world records in the masters (over 50) and raw (without gear) divisions. But after a contest in June 2009, injuries and health problems forced me to stop competing again. Over the next four years my health grew even worse, and I ceased to be able to work out with any degree of intensity. As a result, I lost a significant amount of strength and muscular bodyweight, and I was not doing well emotionally and spiritually.

But then in the fall of 2013 things began to turn around. Over the next several months I was able to gradually increase the intensity of my workouts and to regain the lost bodyweight. For details in this regard, see Regaining Muscular Bodyweight and Strength. I also gradually began to feel better emotionally and spiritually. For details see Steps to Being Emotionally and Spiritually Uplifted.

After that, I began training hard again. On February 28, 2015, I competed in my first powerlifting contest in six years, and it went very well. I entered nine contests after that, and all also went very well. It would have been ten if it were not for the medically useless and destructive lockdowns causing a planned contest in April 2020 to be canceled (see Imaginary Contest).

But then, just before a contest on my 60th birthday in March 2021, new health problems developed. More on that later. But here, I eventually recovered from sufficiently to enter a contest in September 2024. That constituted my third comeback to powerlifting, this time, after a 3-1/2 year break.

I added to my record count at that contest. I now hold fifteen All-time world records in the raw, masters 50-59 age and 60+ age divisions, along with over 100 federation records. For further details, see Summary of Powerlifting Contests, USA Rankings, Records, and Times Bodyweight.

However, I could have entered even more contest and broken even more records, but there have been many times I planned on entering a contest, but health problems or injuries ended the opportunity. In fact, I might have been entering a contest this weekend, on Holy Saturday, if it were not for health setbacks that began the weekend before Christmas and lasted through Valentines Day (see My and My Dad’s First Bout with Covid and Rodents in My Pantry/ Workout Area)

But here, for further details on my current eating plan, see the final chapter in my book Creationist Diet: Second Edition. For further details on my training and the sport of powerlifting in general, see my book Starting and Progressing in Powerlifting. Below is a picture from the September 2024 contest. For more pics from that contest, see RPS Legion – 2024 Pictures.

Politics Website

I have been wanting an outlet for my political views for some time. But my poor health situation prevents me from getting actively involved in politics. But I am able to write. Therefore, around Christmas 2016, I began setting up a website about politics. It went online New Year’s Day 2017. The name of the site is Biblical and Constitutional Politics. The tag line for the site is “Political articles and commentary from a conservative Christian and politically conservative perspective.” It now contains over 300 webpages, with articles and shorter commentaries.

For details on my life story in regards to politics and the background for the site, see About BCP and Its Director. For how and why Christians should stay informed on political matters, see my article News, Politics, and Christians.

Covid Website

On October 17, 2023 I set up a website about Covid. It is called Covid Fearmongering and Lies. The tag line for it is: “Coronavirus Fearmongering on the Left, Covid-19 Lies on the Right: A Layman’s View of What the Authorities Got Correct and Incorrect about the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.”

Most of the articles and commentaries posted on this new website were originally posted on a Coronavirus section of my politics website. I was going to redo those items into a book. However, I realized it would be difficult and time consuming to reformat all of that information into a book. But I wanted to make it more accessible than just as section on that website. Consequently, I decided to move that material to its own website. That was easier and quicker to do than a book. And this way, I can add new material as needed.

There are over 100 webpages on it, with both articles and commentaries. They are listed in chronological order (oldest on top, newest on bottom). In this way, the reader can follow the chronology of the pandemic and the evolution of my thoughts thereupon, from being a Covid-denier to recognizing the seriousness of Covid-19 and the need for the vaccines for high-risk groups.

Spiritual Struggles and Trust in God

With all the problems I have experienced in my life, you can be sure I have asked God “why” many times. There have also been times when I have felt abandoned by God, or at least that He is very distant. But through it all, I have never doubted my salvation. I know the Christian faith is true. I know that Christ died for my sins, and I know God is there for me now, even if I do not always feel His presence. It is trust in Him that enables me to go on. I know that despite everything, He is in control and has a purpose behind all of it.

I can see “God’s fingerprints” throughout my life. Things have not gone the way I would have wanted them, to say the least. I struggle with both health and financial problems, and the loneliness can get to me. But God has clearly been working in my life. In that I can take comfort. And most of the time, I do feel His presence, and that gives me peace that has no natural explanation.

Given all of this, now if you ask me who I am, as with other Christians, I can say I am a sinner saved by grace. Moreover, I am someone who is very thankful that despite all of the problems I have faced in my life, God continues to enable me to perform ministry in His service. In fact, I would say that all things considered, between my ministry, writing, and powerlifting, by God’s grace, I have accomplished a lot in my life. That is the reason for my book The LORD Has It Under Control.

But most of all, I am thankful for the eternal salvation that Christ has provided me by His death on the cross for my sins. I know beyond any doubt that a better life awaits me after this one. If you, the reader, would like to experience the peace and love of God and to know that you are forgiven and saved, see the Forgiveness and Salvation section of my Christian website.

Music

Music has always been an important part of my life. In high school and college, I mainly listened to hard rock and heavy metal, especially when I was working out (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Alice Cooper). But I also listened to some softer rock when I was relaxing (Bread, Jim Croce, Beach Boys, Chicago). But once I became a Christian, I began listening to almost exclusively Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). There is now available softer Christian rock (Michael Card, Michael W. Smith, Third Day, Selah, Mercy Me), hard rock (Petra, White Heart, Kutless, Plumb, Decypher Down), and even heavy metal (Stryper, Bride, White Cross, Barren Cross).

There is even Christian Rap (Family Force 5, The Cross Movement, KJ-52, Trip Lee, NT, P.O.D.) and Christian Metalcore (Feast Eternal, August Burns Red, War of the Ages, With blood Comes Cleansing). I was never much of a fan of these last two types of music, but at least with the Christian versions there is none of the foul language that is common in the secular versions. As such, I listen to these for variety’s sake on occasion in my workouts.

I also might listen to Country music if I am putting in a lighter workout. Again, I have never been a big fan of Country music, but again, I listen to it for variety’s sake. That is also why I might on occasion listen to “Classic Rock” for the nostalgia and modern secular hard rock while working out.

I listen to most of this music via streaming on Pandora. I have different “stations” set up for each type of music. But I also have hundreds of old CDs and even cassette tapes (remember those!). Surprisingly, some of those tapes are up to four decades old but still play just fine, well, most of them. Below are pictures of my collection.

You can hear the music I work out to in the videos associated with my workout posts. I listen to CCM when I can while working on my PC and doing other daily activities. It helps me keep my mind on the LORD rather than on myself and my problems, so rather than feeling lonely, I can bask in His presence and worship Him. I also listen to KLove and Air1 via their apps throughout the day.

However, most of the time I used to listen to classical music while working, as it is easier to concentrate with it on. That is, until I found Pandora has instrumental Christian music, so I mostly listen to it now. That is until November 1^st through December 31^st. That is when I listen to Christmas music. With Pandora, I have a Christian Christmas music station, a general Christmas music station, and an instrumental Christmas music station set up. And again, I still have quite a few Christmas CDs and cassette tapes.

Other Media

I am also particular about my other media habits, rarely watching “regular” modern-day TV shows or movies. They have too much immoral content for my tastes. I mainly watch the news and political commentary, faith-based programming, and older TV shows and movies, mostly Sci-Fi. For details on all of my media habits, see the next to last chapter in my book God’s Sex Plan: Volume Two: What the New Testament Teaches About Human Sexuality.

Since that book was published, I came across the Bott Radio App. It has live Christian programming, along with about 50 podcasts. These are mostly sermons by a wide variety of preachers, through there are other types of Christian programming as well. I mainly listen to the podcasts, cycling through many of them. From what I have heard, most all are theologically sound and listening to them can be very uplifting. For further details on all of this, see my two-part article Uplifting Apps and Podcasts.

I probably shouldn’t admit this, as I might have to turn in my “man card,” but come the Christmas season, I mostly watch Christmas RomComs (romantic comedies) on TV. I used to watch Hallmark, but I got turned of it due to the increasing presence of homosexual characters, just as I warned would happen in my Hallmark Channel Email. That is also why I rarely watch modern-day TV series and movies, as I simply do not enjoy watching sin for entertainment (see Viable Alternatives to Watching Sin for Entertainment).

That is why I now mostly watch RomComs on Great American Family Channel. It was started by Candace Cameron Bure. She used to be a Hallmark star, but started GAF as an alterative, with GAF being dedicated to “traditional values” meaning no homosexual characters nor sexual situations. I like that. Though admittedly, I still watch an occasional movie on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, as they put a different spin on RomComs.

Dating

However, one thing I don’t like about RomComs is when the prospective love interests keep bumping into each other (sometimes literally!). That simply does not happen in real life. If you do not get the other person’s contact info when you first meet, you probably won’t see the person again, and you’ll regret it for a long time to come. I know, as that has happened to me several times. Once over twenty years ago at my local YMCA and three times over the past few years at Pittsburgh’s East End Food Co-op, where I do most of my grocery shopping.

In each case, we only talked for a few minutes, but we seemed to hit it off. However, I failed to get the woman’s contact info each time. I guess I just assumed I would see her again, as I went to the Y regularly back then and to the Co-op now, but that never happened. But if it were RomCom world, we would have kept running into each other. But as it is, I was left regretful for some time afterwards each time.

The first woman at the Co-op actually spoke to me first. Given that I’m only 5’0”, that never happens to me. Normally, women just look through me like I do not exist (the same way racists treat those whom they are bigoted against). But in this case, I was a bit flustered and didn’t handle it well. I’ve probably blown other chances due to not saying or doing the right thing at the right time. That is a couple of reasons I never got married.

It is also why I don't bother with dating apps or websites. I tried the latter back in the mid-10s. I wasted a whole lot of time over a period of 2-3 years and ended up with not even a single date out of it. As soon as a woman sees my height (or lack thereof), she just “swipes left” and moves on. There are just too many choices for her to waste more than a few seconds on my profile.

Update:

Despite what I wrote above, I signed up with Match in May 2025. I hadn’t even tried dating in many years. That is due to the many problems in my life. But loneliness was really getting to me, so I figured I would give it a try again. But I marked that I was not sure what I was looking for. With my many problems, I was not sure if a LTR was even possible, maybe with the right woman. But if not, it would have been nice to make a friend or two, just to have someone to talk to. If something could develop from there, great! If not, then a friend is nice.

For five weeks, I spent a whole lot of time viewing every profile on Match’s app of women within 75 miles of my home and from 5-20 years younger than me. I liked dozens of them, and I sent messages to many of them. And what did I get for all of that time and my effort? Matches with two scammers!

I sent one message to the first of them through Match. She never responded. Then her profile disappeared. A while later I received an email from Match stating that her profile had been removed for “fraudulent behavior.” But I corresponded with the other one for a couple of weeks, first via Match, then via email and texts. But then her profile also disappeared from Match. I emailed Match and asked why, but they refused to answer. But then a week later, they sent me another email saying her profile had also been removed for “fraudulent behavior.” I had my suspicions from the start that she wasn’t real for various reasons, but that confirmed it.

I’ve been inundated with friend requests and messages from romance scammers on Facebook for the past 1-1/2 years, also wasting much time corresponding with a few of them. I always end those conversations when the “woman” asks for money. I guess those scammers followed me to Match. I thus cancelled my Match account. I should have stuck with what I previously wrote, as it has proven to be true. The wasted time and getting my hopes up, thinking I had met someone, only to those hopes dashed when the scammer asks for money is just too much.

But being single for so long, I have had much time to think about what my “ideal woman” would be like. I could give a list, but I am sure no woman would meet all of those criteria. Just as I am sure I would not meet any woman’s “ideal man” criteria. But the woman being a Christian would be nonnegotiable. Otherwise, I most want a woman I get along with, so I guess a pleasant personality would also top the list.

One way I am sure I am not “ideal” for most women is my height. All I can say is, I have dated women as tall as 5’6”. It was a problem on a couple of occasions, made clear when she dumped me for a guy a foot taller than me. But for others, it was not an issue. But apparently, it was a problem on Match.

I had someone tell me that on dating apps, most women will “swipe left” on any guy who is less than 6’0”, so that definitely leaves me out. Meanwhile, on Facebook, the algorithms will match me with romance scammers, as 60s and single put me in the target audience for such.

Professional Sports

Above is a picture of me wearing my favorite sweat suit, with black and gold being the colors of Pittsburgh sports teams. I used to wear a matching Pirates or Steelers cap with it, and I have numerous Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins T-shirts. However, I rarely wear them anymore. That is because I have gotten completely turned off of professional sports in recent years due to all of the wokism.

My interest began to wane with the kneeling for the National Anthem nonsense back in 2017 (see Lifelong Steelers Fan, But Will I Keep Watching?). Then I completely lost interest in the spring to fall summer of 2020, for several reasons.

First, both the Pirates and Penguins began having annual Pride in Sin nights, complete with rainbow colored everything. And yes, the behaviors and lifestyles celebrated by such rainbow nights are in fact sin, as I discuss in depth in my books on sex and the Bible.

Second, the Pirates played a video honoring the corrupt and Marxist organization of BLM before their home opener. I turned it off and have not even try to watch a game since (see BLM Thugs Invade Pittsburgh).

Third, the Steelers put the names of criminals on their helmets, thugs like Antwon Rose, who, if they had not been rightly shot and killed by the police, would be in prison now. We should be honoring the police who protected their communities from such criminals, not the thugs themselves (See I Told You It Was a Hoax: Part Two under “The Antwon Rose/ Michael Rosfeld Case”).

But most of all, I just cannot bring myself to root for woke athletes who claim they’re being oppressed while making millions of dollars for playing a game.

It is kind of sad, as I grew up a rabid Pirates fan and quickly became a Steelers fan when they became the NFL team of the 1970s. But in another way, it has been good to not be wasting so much time watching and following sports. I don’t even bother to listen to or watch the sports reports on the local news. At best, I might listen to see if the currently playing team won or lost the day before, but that is about it.

My Books

As of September 2022, I have written over forty books total: twenty-two Christian books, five fitness books, and fourteen politics books.

My Christian Books

My Newest Christian Book

Trusting Genesis and the Gospels
A Defense of Divine Creation, of the Resurrection of Christ, and of Salvation in Christ

Click here for details on these Christian books.

My Fitness Books

Click here for details on these fitness books.

My Politics Books

Click here for details on my politics books.

Amazon Author Page

Book Publishing and Sales

My initial books were published and sold through Author House (AH, initially called 1stBooks), with the first two books being published in 2000. They were also sold on other online bookstores, like Amazon. For AH, I just wrote the text, but they did all of the formatting, page numbering, and cover design, for a cost of course. I published five books with them. They were all in paperback format, and the first two editions of my translation of the New Testament also in hardback format. But it was quite costly, and I doubt I ever recouped my initial costs in royalties.

But then I found Lulu Publishing. With them, I could publish books for a very low cost, but I had to do all of the formatting, page numbering, and cover design myself. It is tedious, but I figured out how to do so. That meant my royalties were almost pure profit. With them, I could produce paperback, hardback, PDF (Acrobat Reader) eBooks, and ePUB eBooks (for iPad, Nook, et. al.). the books are sold on Lulu's website.

I was also producing my books in Microsoft Reader eBook format and selling them myself through my Christian and fitness websites, until Microsoft discontinued that format.

Then Amazon came out with its Kindle eBook reader. I was one of the first to jump on board when Amazon started Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). This service gives the ability to produce eBooks for its Kindle reader and app. Then later they added the ability to create paperbacks, then even later hardbacks, and I immediately jumped on board for those formats as well.

I knew the Kindle format would quickly become popular, and it sure did. For quite some time now, I sell far more Kindle eBooks than books in all other formats combined. And nationally, eBooks began to outsell hardcopy books many years ago.

Unfortunately, sales of these books have never been anywhere near as brisk as I would like. Once I began publishing through KDP, sales were doing reasonably well from 2010 to 2018. But then sales dropped precipitously in 2019.

Web Traffic

That drop is books sales coincided with when traffic to my websites dropped precipitously. Then traffic dropped significantly again in 2020. I am not quite sure what happened.

It could be that my websites are now quite out-of-date in their design. But I do not have the technical expertise to update them to more modern formats, as my coding skills are quite limited. And I do not have the money to pay someone else to update the design for me. Part of the difficulty is there are now over 2,500 webpages across all five of my websites. That would make updating each page very difficult.

It could also be that the drop happened due to me branching out to writing about politics in 2017, then Covid in 2020. But that is why I have cut way back on writing on those two topics and stick mostly with Christian and fitness writings, as I was doing before 2017.

The thing is, I did not know about the drop in my web traffic, as the stats for my website were not working at that time. I fought with my webhost about it, but they never did fix it. I finally gave up trying to check them. It was not until years later that I checked the stats and found they were working. It was only then that I did some backtracking and found out about these two times of droppage.

After working for a couple of years, for the past couple of years, the web stats are once again spotty. I keep contacting my webhost about the problem. They will fix it, for it only to stop again within a month or two. It is currently in stop mode once again. That worries me, as if I had known about these drops at the time, I might have been able to do something about them. But now I am struggling to get the traffic back up to where it once was.

After reading the preceding, someone suggested to me that the droppage in both my Web traffic and books sales could be due to both Google and Amazon “shadow-banning” me. For those who don’t know, shadow-banning is a form of censorship. It does not out-right ban someone, but it is a change in algorithms that reduces the person’s placemen in search results.

In this case, it could be that due to my writing about politics from a conservative viewpoint and supporting Donald Trump, Google’s anti-conservative algorithm reduced the placement of not just my politics website but of all sites connected to it, which is to say, all the sites under the umbrella of my Zeolla.org domain when people did web searches. And Amazon might have done the same for not just my politics books but for all “Gary F. Zeolla” books when someone did a search for a book on a particular subject on Amazon.

Then Google really doubled-down in its down-placement when I began to write about Covid from a less than mainstream perspective, arguing against lockdowns, the various mandates, and the like.

Thus, it was my writing about politics that caused both drops, but not directly. It’s not that my political and Covid writings turned my potential readers off, it’s that they turned off the woke and leftists personal at Google and Amazon. But there is not much I can do about it at this point.

Financial Situation

But whatever the case with the web traffic, as a result of the drop in sales of my books, my financial situation is very poor. It has been all of my life, but it has gotten far worse since 2019. That is why I spent most of 2023 trying one plan after another to directly increase sales of my books or indirectly by taking steps to increase traffic to my websites and the length of time people spend on them, the number of subscribers to my newsletters, and the number of followers on social media.

However, after months of effort and $1,000s, my efforts proven mostly fruitless and made my financial situation even worse. What is particularly frustrating is that the vast majority of those who do read my books find them to be beneficial, as seen in the ratings and reviews of my books on Amazon.

The same goes for those who visit my websites, at least based on those who contact me via the Contact Information pages on my various websites commenting on them. But the numbers are just not sufficient, and I cannot seem to get any traction to make a significant difference in those numbers. It is all very frustrating.

For more in that regard, see my two-part article Responses to Negative Reviews of My Christian Books on Amazon and my article Responses to Negative Reviews of My Fitness Books on Amazon.

Audiobooks

In the spring of 2024, I began to get some of my books produced in audiobook format through ACX (Audio Content Exchange). I now have eleven audiobooks available through them. See my ACX Author Page for a list of them. However, producing books proved to be very frustrating and time-consuming with little fruitful results, as I detailed in various issues of my Christian newsletter from spring 2024 to winter 2025 (Vol. XXII, No. 4, Vol. XXII, No. 5, Vol. XXII, No. 6, Vol. XXIII, No. 1).

Thus, in the spring of 2025, Amazon’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) made it possible to produce audiobooks through it. While it was still in the beta stage, I was asked to be a beta tester. I jumped on the chance. That proved to be a big mistake, as it also proved to be very time-consuming and tedious, with little to show for my efforts.

To date, I have only produced one audiobook with KDP, that being my powerlifting book. See the most recent issue of my newsletter at this writing for details (Vol. XXIII, No. 2). But it and my books through ACX are all available from Amazon. My Author Page on Amazon also lists all of my books in all formats.

With ACX, I employed others to narrate the books for me. With KDP, they are narrated by “virtual voice” which is to say, AI. I tried doing it myself, but it was beyond my technical and physical abilities. That is also why I have thought of but have not pursued starting a podcast. It is just very tiring for me to talk for an hour, and I just cannot figure out how to get the sound just right.

Part of the problem is, KDP’s system is for the virtual voice to read the Kindle version of the Kindle eBook. But there are many things that work when someone is looking at what they are reading that don’t work when they are being read to them, like charts or my workout logs in my powerlifting book. It was extremely time-consuming fixing such mistakes.

It also did stupid things like reading a zip code like’s Pittsburgh’s 15222 as “fifteen-thousand, two-hundred, twenty-two.” No one reads a zip code like that.

Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing

All of the book publishers in the preceding section would be known as self-publishing companies. That is because, as indicated, I either need to pay the company to do all of the formatting for me or to do it myself. It is also up to me to market the books myself (as will be discussed in the next section). These companies are all “print-on-demand.” That means, print books are printed as they are ordered. Also, all copyrights stay with the author. The publisher then has the reasonability to make the books available for sale on its site and to pay the agreed upon royalties to the author. The publisher makes it money by taking a share of the royalties.

The other option is a traditional publisher. For these, the author writes the book, but then the publisher does all of formatting and marketing. It also publishes a lot of books at one time, usually in the thousands. The author gets an-upfront payment from the publisher for it to attain the rights to the book. Then the publisher and author share royalties. This is a far-more lucrative method for the author to publish a book.

However, it is very difficult for an author to get a book published by a traditional publisher. Generally, a traditional publisher will not deal with an author directly. The author needs to get a literary agent to represent him or her to the traditional publisher, but that is very difficult to do. There are far more wannabe authors than literary agents.

I know, as I have tried to get a literary agent to represent my books to a traditional publisher. I did so at the start of my writing career, to no avail. That is why I turned to self-publishing. But more recently, I spent the entire first quarter of 2024 sending out book proposals for three different of my Christian books to every specific Christian literary agent I could find on the Internet, along with to every literary agent accepting Christian submissions. But it was all to no avail. I got a few rejections emails back, and that was it.

Along with romance scammers, I have also gotten many book scammers contacting me over the past 1-1/2 years. These book scammers say they will market my book, republish it, or in some get a literary agent to represent me to a traditional publishing company. Or they claim to be a literary agent who is interested in promoting one of my books. All for a fee, of course. Basically, they will dangle the promise of a six-figure return, if I just pay then a couple of grand upfront. But as stated, my books are already published, and real literary agents are so busy with submissions, they did not need to scour the web for authors.

If you are a wannabe author, do not fall for any of this. I did so on a couple of occasions. But the first only cost me $500, and I figured out the second was a scammer before I paid them any money. As for my own advertising efforts, that is next.

Advertising

I regularly advertise my books, websites, and newsletters on my five social media pages. I post updates when I publish new issues of my newsletters, when I publish new content on any of my websites, and when I publish or update a book. I also post all of this information on the “What’s New?” page of the relevant website.

Also on social media, weekly I post my workout logs and excepts from my ongoing work on my forthcoming new edition of my translation of the Old Testament (more on that in the next section).

In addition, I placed several advertisements on Twitter/ X over a period of a couple of years for my politics and Christian books, but with little results. All I got for those efforts and money were snide comments on the ads. I have also advertised on local Christian and conservative political talk radio stations. That was quite expensive and proved to be fruitless as well, further adding to my financial woes.

I cannot advertise on Facebook, as I was permanently banned from doing so back in 2023. I only found out that I was when it was mentioned on a podcast I was listening at that time about the benefits of advertising on Facebook. It was only then that I did a bit of poking around and found that there was a marketing page associated with my FB account. However, there was a notice about me being permanently banned from advertising due to placing inappropriate ads. And further, too much time had passed for me to appeal the decision.

This of course made no sense. I never even placed an ad on FB, let alone an inappropriate one. That could be seen on the marketing page in that there were all zeros. “Ads placed: 0. Payments made: $0. Ads rejected: 0.” But try as I might, I could not figure out how to contact a real, live person on FB. All I need for is for a real person to look at my marketing page for one minute and see all of those 0s, and they’d immediately know the ban is a mistake. But as far as I can tell, there is no way to contact a real person at FB. My efforts just keep directing me back to a form on the marketing page to fill out to object to the ban. But it is grayed out, as it has been too long since I was banned to object.

It is all very frustrating. If anyone reading this can tell me how to contact a real, live person at FB, it would be much appreciated.

Analytical-Literal Translation of the Bible

By far, the most important and best-selling of all of my writings is my Analytical-Literal Translation of the Bible (ALT). The first edition (ALT1) was published in 2002 by Author House. The second edition (ALT2) was published in 2005, also by Author House. The third edition (ALT3) was published in 2007, then updated in 2012 and 2023. All three versions were published by Lulu and KDP. The 2023 version is still available from Lulu. But I then updated the text one last time for a Third Edition (corrected) (ALT3c) in 2024. It is only available from Amazon. The reason for that is, Lulu messed their system up with their latest “upgrade.” As a result, I was unable to update the various paperback and hardback versions of ALT3 to ALT3c. But that does mean, if anyone wants ALT3 (2023 version) for comparison purposes, it is still available from Lulu.

I published the ALT: Old Testament in four volumes from 2012 to 2014. I also translated the post-OT Apocryphal/ Deuterocanonical Books (2014) and post-NT Apostolic Fathers (2017). I then updated all of these volumes in 2023. They are all available from Lulu and Amazon by following the preceding links.

I have long wanted to get all seven volumes published in one volume, but that is not possible with self-publishing due to page limitations with Lulu and Amazon and technical difficulties doing so with a personal PC. The processing power is just not there to deal with what would be an immense file. But after getting a new PC in 2024, I figured I could reduce the volumes from seven to four by reducing the four OT volumes down to two and combining the Apocryphal/ Deuterocanonical Books and Apostolic Fathers into one volume.

However, I knew I would want to go over the entire text again and make these volumes the second editions of the OT, Apocryphal/ Deuterocanonical Books, and Apostolic Fathers. Consequently, I began working on updating the OT at he beginning of 2025. My initial plan was to come out first with the ALT2 editions of all of the se volumes, then I would go back and do a Study Version (SV) of each volume.

The difference between the ALT: SV and the Text Only Version (TOV) will be the SV will have book introductions, subtitles, and explanatory notes, and it will indicate most all differences between the Hebrew text and the Greek Septuagint (LXX) text the ALT is based on. The TOV will not have the first three and will only indicate the most important textual differences. (Both versions will include a translation of the Hebrew when the LXX omits text found in the Hebrew, and both versions will indicate when the LXX adds text as compared to the Hebrew. And both versions will have Introductory pages and Appendixes.)

But as I thought of it, I realized that as I worked on study notes for the ALT: SV, I would probably make changes to the ALT text itself, so I changed my plans and figured it would be best to in essence work on both at once. And that has proven to be the case. I have made minor changes to the text due to studying the text for those notes. But it must be mentioned, most all of the changes I am making are minor, mostly of punctuation. Only rarely am I making significant changes to the ALT text itself.

What that means is, do not hesitate to purchase any of these volumes now through the preceding links. It will probably take me the rest of this year (2025) just to finish the OT: Torah for the SV, then all of next year (2026) to finish the OT: Historical Books for the SV. It will only be then that I will remove the study aids and publish the first TOV volume with both the Torah and Historical Books. It will then not be until 2028 that I even begin on the OT: Poetic and Prophetic Books, then the Apocryphal/ Deuterocanonical Books and Apostolic Fathers after that. Then finally there will be a SV for the NT.

In other words, this is a multi-year project. That is not good as regards my financial situation. But if money was my main concern, I would work on several smaller projects to get more books out quickly. But this ALT update, both the TOV and especially the SV, is what I truly believe the LORD wants me to work on, so I will trust Him for my finances as I do so.

It should also be noted, the recently released Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Edition (Corrected) (ALT3c) is basically a cross between these the SV and TOV. It has book introductions and some explanatory notes but no subtitles, while textual variants are indicated separately in the Companion Volume to the ALT. But most importantly, the entire ALT: NT text was reviewed before publication. Thus, do not hesitate to purchase it, as if I do a full SV of it, it will be the last to be done, literally years away.

The reason I updated the 2023 ALT3 to ALT3c in 2024 is the second aforementioned book scammer. I was promised a very significant upfront payment from an alleged literary agent for rights to market my ALT: NT. But I wanted to go over the text once more before having it published by a traditional publisher. I also wanted to add Book Introductions, as I think those are very helpful for getting ones’ bearings when reading the Bible.

I had my doubts, as the amount offered was quite outrageous. But I signed the contract anyway and mailed it to the alleged literary agent to the address in her email signature. She was quite upset when I told her I did that, as she said I should have signed it, scanned it, and emailed it to her.

I found out why she was upset. A week later, the post office returned the envelope and contract to me as undeliverable. In the interim, I had done some research and found out the literary agency and the publishing company she was allegedly marketing my book to were scammers, then that returned envelope confirmed it. But thank God I did it that way, as it meant she had no contract to hold over me.

But as it is, that is why I will be doing the ALT: NT last for a final update to a separate TOV and SV. Since I just updated it but have not done a full new edition for the other ALT volumes since their original releases, I want to update them first.

Prayers are appreciated as I work on this vital but massive project. I am working on it as much as my body will let me, but my complex health situation is an ever-present obstacle to working as much as I would like and far less than normally healthy people. More on that later. But first, more that I am thankful for despite my health struggles.

ALT Audiobooks

Going back to audiobooks, along with my powerlifting book, I spent over a week doing an audiobook version of ALT3c. It was very tedious, as the stupid AI was reading the verse numbers. Anyone who has ever been to church knows you do not read the verse numbers when reading a Bible test. But AI has never been to church. That made the text a bit awkward to listen to.

But worse, the AI also made the stupid mistake of whenever a quotation mark began a verse of reading it as an inch symbol, as in reading Matthew 3:11a, 11“I indeed baptize you* in water” as “Eleven inches I indeed baptize you* in water.” It also read an “In” starting a verse as an abbreviation for inch, thus John 1:1a became “One inch the beginning was the Word.”

This was all very tedious and time-consuming to fix. I couldn’t just delete the verse numbers, as again, the AI is reading the Kindle version, and they are needed for it. I complained endlessly to KDP about this, to separate the two, but to no avail.

Then when I updated the Kindle version to correct a few minor mistakes I noticed while listening to the entire NT, KDP declared the audiobook as no longer eligible for an audiobook!

Their stated reason was it was too long. But it was under their posted word and time limits. And most of all, it was already available! I know, as I bought it myself, I downloaded it, and I listened to the entire thing! I fought with them for a month over it, but to no avail.

The rest of the ALT volumes are also deemed ineligible due to their length. But again, they are all under their stated limits. This ties back to my previous comments about shadow-banning. I think the real problem is, KDP does not want the Bible to be read on its new audiobook system.

I could do them on ACX. I asked them, and they said they do not have any such size limits on audiobooks. And the person I talked to seemed intrigued, not turned off, when I mentioned about producing my Bible translation volumes as audiobooks.

But again, that is a lot of work. As such, I will wait until I finish each volume of the new ALT and then have audiobook versions produced for both the TOV and SV of each volume as it is completed.

Powerlifting Accomplishments

Below is a picture of all of the powerlifting trophies and other awards I have won as of this writing. These trophies were won in four different periods. The first picture is the trophies I won back in 1979-1985. The T-shirt is also an award for my last contest from that time period. The quality is not so good, as it was scanned from two print pictures taped together. The second and third pictures are my trophies from 2003-2009 and 2015-2021. The final picture is my award for my contest in September 2024. Those three long breaks were due to health problems and injuries keeping me from competing or even training hard during those intervening times.

There are 44 awards total. Two are missing, as the figurine on them was of an Olympic lifter, which made no sense, so they are boxed up somewhere. For more such pictures and further details, see Me and My Powerlifting Trophies: 2003-2021. For further details on all I have accomplished in the sport of powerlifting, see My Powerlifting Accomplishments and Summary of Powerlifting Contests, USA Rankings, and Records.

Health Problems

Below is a list of health problems I have dealt with in my life (more or less in order of developing them).

Various Childhood Accidents

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Reactive Hypoglycemia

Binge/ starve eating disorder

Insomnia

Numerous food and seasonal allergies

Low back pain

First bicycle accident

Neurological “tics”

TMJ

Unexplained noises in my head at night

Crippling low back pain

Second bicycle accident

Arthritis in right shoulder

Clinically low testosterone levels

Restless Leg Syndrome

Fibromyalgia

Stiff Person Syndrome

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Periodontal Disease

Worsening eyesight

Rotator Cuff Injuries in both shoulders

Tendonitis in both elbows

Various muscular injuries

Explanations

In one of the childhood accidents, I broke my left wrist. To this day, I cannot comfortably turn my left hand into a full underhand position. That is why, if you look closely at my deadlift videos, you’ll see I am holding the bar with an overhand grip with my left hand and underhand with my right. Most powerlifters who are right-handed as I am do the opposite.

From another accident, I have a scar on my chin. It sticks out, so I always cut it if I shave with a blade, and if I use an electric shaver, it burns too much. That is why I have worn a beard since I could first grow one back in high school.

Reactive hypoglycemia refers to low blood sugar shortly after eating, especially after consuming high glycemic carbs. I was diagnosed with this condition in December of 2007, but `most likely I have had it most of my life, and it probably contributed to developing the eating disorder. The eating plan outlined in my God-given Foods Eating Plan and Creationist Diet: Second Edition books now keep the hypoglycemia under control. That eating plan has kept me from experiencing other problems from the hypoglycemia, such as diabetes and becoming overweight, that most sufferers experience.

The eating disorder lasted for about 25 years, from junior high school until 1997. I stopped the eating disorder by deciding one day that I simply could not do that to myself anymore. Also, I just like eating too much. That might sound contradictory, but after a binge, I could barely for the next day or two. Thus, I prayed for Christ’s strength, and by His grace, I have not had a problem with it since then. My eating plan also helps in this regard by keeping my blood sugar on an even keel, eliminating the cravings. To that end, I eat 6-7 small meals a day rather than three large ones. I discuss this issue at further length in a section on “Restrictive Diets” in my Creationist Diet book.

The low back pain began in college and that is the reason I had to stop powerlifting in 1982, but then in 1994, it worsened to the point of completely crippling me, which condition then lasted for six years. But in the spring of 2000, I overcame the back pain completely using mind-body techniques. I explain in detail how in my booklet Overcoming Back Pain: A Mind-Body Solution.

The first bicycle accident occurred in the summer of 1985. In it, I injured my right knee, which required surgery. It bothered me for some time, until I began to use free weights again and specifically doing squats. Since then, it has not been a problem, as long as I wear knee support (sleeves or wraps) when doing heavy squats.

The second bicycle accident occurred July 28, 1999, and it was much more serious. I collapsed my right lung, broke my right scapula and clavicle and cracked the shoulder socket, fractured my left elbow, and sustained a concussion. If I wasn’t wearing a helmet, I probably would have been killed. I recovered fully from the various injuries from both bicycle accidents, except for my right shoulder. It is still noticeably weaker and less flexible than the left. Much later X-rays and an MRI for another problem showed I have developed significant arthritis in that shoulder around where the bones were cracked in the accident.

The clinically low testosterone levels were first detected in the spring of 2005, but I believe they actually began around the fall of 1997 when I saw a significant drop in my sex drive. But it took years for me to convince any doctor that low testosterone levels might be a problem and to do a blood text. Once my belief was confirmed, I researched natural methods for elevating testosterone levels. I was able to correct the problem by following the eating plan outlined in the first nutrition book above . By following that eating plan, I tripled my testosterone levels, from being clinically low to being in the middle of the normal range.

The neurological or organic “tics” are minor muscle spasms that are somewhat related to Tourette’s Syndrome. I have two types. The first is a tic on the right side of my neck to face that I have had since Junior HS. You don’t notice it in my pics but would in IRL I, however, do not notice it and do not know when I am twitching. But it is another reason women generally look through me like I do not exist.

It is also why I do not post videos of myself on my websites or social media, other than my workout videos. I have had people suggest I do so on YouTube or TicToc to promote my books and translation of the Bible via teaching videos. But my facial tic would distract people trying to watch the videos, so I doubt they would be very popular, not worth the effort nor embarrassment on my part.

In any case, the second type of tic I very much notice. They are even smaller twitches that can flare up anywhere in my body. They feel somewhat like someone is pinching me repeatedly. They first began occurring in February 1989 and were diagnosed by a neurologist in Denver. When they occur, they can last from a couple of seconds to several days or even weeks. When they occur at night, which is when they usually do, they keep me from sleeping.

TMJ stands for Temporo-Mandibular Joint. This is a problem with the jaw joint that causes grinding and popping in the ears. It began in the spring of 1989. I wear a mouth guard at night and when I work out, which helps some.

The unexplained noises in my head at night are just that, unexplained. They began in the spring of 1990. They include popping, cracking, and snapping sounds. But even after all of these years no doctor has ever been able to explain what is happening let alone offer a solution.

Much later, and even stranger, around the summer of 2019, I began to hear what sounds like barking dogs. But none of my neighbors leave their dogs out a night. It is usually just one or two barks, but it is enough to wake me up, and getting back to sleep often is a struggle. I also sometimes heard ringing, beeping, or clicking sounds, but I am sure to not have any electronics in my bedroom that might make such sounds.

Restless Leg Syndrome is an involuntary jerking of the limbs at night. It began in January 2001. I was able to get it mostly under control by taking supplemental NADH. But I eventually became sensitive to it and had to stop taking it. I now take a prescription drug for it, but it is still a problem on occasion.

When any of the above four problems flare-up, they can wake me up or keep me from falling asleep, and I often experience one or more of them through the course of the night. As such, I almost never get a good night’s sleep. For in regards to sleep and steps I have taken to try to elevate my sleep disorders, see my Sleep Articles.

But here, when I first developed the RLS, I was unable to sleep for two weeks. That led to a case of the flu that lasted for ten days. Even after I recovered from the flu, I never felt the same again. Over the next several months, I continued to experience fatigue and then areas of pain. The pain began in my left side then progressed over most of my body.

I was then diagnosed with Fibromyalgia on August 27, 2001 by my PCP. Fibromyalgia is basically chronic pain plus chronic fatigue. I got the pain mostly under control using the same mind-body techniques I used to overcome the back pain. It only flares up when I am stressed out or in an allergic state, but the fatigue is an ongoing problem. I have to rest periodically throughout the day. I am always exhausted by the evenings and am too tired to go out anywhere.

The fatigue is one reason I have virtually no social life and am unable to work outside of my home. It is also part of the reason I set up a home gym as traveling back and forth to a commercial gym left me too exhausted. It is also why I only enter contests close to my home, as lengthy drives would be too exhausting, and with the way things are now at airports, an airplane trip would be out of the question.

Stiff Person Syndrome is a very rare auto-immune disorder. At one time I was very stiff all day long, being barely able to walk. Periodically, I would have episodes of being completely paralyzed for hours to days at a time. The worst episode was in September of 2002 when I was paralyzed for ten days. It was after that experience that I wrote the article Suffering and Spiritual Struggles. The all day long stiffness lasted about a year, starting in the fall of 2001. It then tapered off until I was about back to normal by the fall of 2003, but I was and am still very stiff and in pain in the mornings. It is just a question of if that pain and stiffness lasts just a few minutes or a few hours. It is usually the former, but the latter happens when I had been exposed to something I am sensitive to the day before.

That leads to my greatest problem, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). I had allergies all of my life, but they began to worsen in the fall of 2000. By the summer of 2005, they had worsened to the point of being diagnosed as MCS by an immunologist in Pittsburgh.

I am terribly allergic to any kind of chemicals, including any kind of cosmetic products. That is why I have a hard time being around people as people have chemicals on their bodies, clothing, and coats (perfume, cologne, make-up, hair spray, cigarette smoke, remnants of detergent and soap, etc.). As a result, I rarely leave my home and never have visitors to my home. I also can only consume natural/ organic foods, so I have a difficult time eating out. I am also sensitive to most drugs and even supplements.

When I am exposed to something I am sensitive to, it can cause any or all of the preceding problems to flare-up. A second exposure to something usually causes a worst reaction. Thus, for instance, I was okay with a first cortisone shot, but a second cortisone shot caused my tics to flare up for three days. Or eating Thanksgiving leftovers left me stiff, in pain, and fatigued all the next day. See My Life with MCS for more in this regard.

Again, as a result of these sensitivities, I rarely leave my home and never have visitors to my home. That is another reason why I set up a home gym, as I could never handle going to a commercial gym on a regular basis. But I need to work out, as doing so helps alleviate the stiffness and overall body pain. And I was glad in the spring of 2020 when gyms were ridiculously forced to close that I had a home gym and was not dependent on a commercial gym.

But if I do leave my home, I always feel awful afterwards, that day and into the next day or two or even longer, as already described. But often, I have problems in my own home, just opening packages and such. Basically, I need to be careful about everything I touch, consume, or even get near that might be problematic. I have not been able to read hardcopy books for over twenty years, which is quite ironic for a writer.

About the only times I leave my home are to go to the aforementioned food Co-op and family gatherings, along with medical appointments. The Co-op I go to every fourth Fridays. I shop a the Co-op, as with my MCS, I can only eat organic or at least all-natural foods, which is all they sell there. Also, the smells at the Co-op do not bother me as much as at standard grocery stores. The family gatherings are usually only for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Then there is the occasional wedding or funeral. Those really bother me, so I usually do not stay very long.

That is how I developed Periodontal Disease. It bothered me so much at the dentist’s office that I just did not go for six years. Not smart! When I finally went again, the massive tartar buildup causes my gums to begin to recede. I then had to have two “deep cleanings” done and now go to the dentist every three months to get my teeth cleaned to keep the Periodontal Disease from progressing.

The worsening eyesight is no worse than for anyone else as they age. But it really gets to me, as at one time, I would say my eyes were the only part of my body that functioned well. I said that, as up until my 40th birthday, I had better than 20/20 vision. I could read the tiniest of print and see the most distant objects with no problems. But at an eye exam in my 30s, the eye doctor predicted that by the time I turned 50, I would need glasses.

And sure enough, about that time, I began to need to use readers for reading. That worked fine for a while, as I only needed them for that tiniest of print. But over the years since then, I began to have to use them more and more often. As I approached my 64th birthday, I knew it was time to get bifocals, as it was getting to be a hassle putting on and taking off the readers or just not being able to read things, like food labels at the grocery store. But that I need to do to be sure a food item does not contain anything I am sensitive to. Thus, at an eye doctor's appointment three weeks before my birthday I picked out glasses and then picked them up a week before it.

The left shoulder rotator cuff injury occurred on March 14, 2021, two weeks before my last powerlifting contest. It began with pain in my left shoulder and triceps. It got progressively worse over the next several weeks. It was diagnosed by an orthopedic surgeon as a rotator cuff tear, later confirmed by an MRI as being two tears and a biceps subluxation. That led to surgery on August 20, 2021.

That surgery was successful. But as I was recovering from it, by the spring of 2022, I developed the same pain symptoms in my right shoulder and triceps. An MRI showed once again two rotator cuff tears and other problems, most notably arthritis as a result of the breaks from my second bicycle accident. After much ado, I finally had surgery to repair the tears on July 15, 2022.

By early-December 2023, my left shoulder was fully recovered. My right shoulder was also fully recovered from the surgery, but due to the arthritis, it feels worse than when this whole ordeal began.

Meanwhile, during this time, I suffered three separate muscular injuries. I injured my left oblique (side of torso) muscle a month after the first shoulder surgery while making my bed! I injured my left adductor (inner thigh muscle) a week before the second surgery while working out. I then injured my right adductor while working out a year after the second surgery just as I was getting back into heavier training.

Details on the first two injuries are interspersed in the two rotator cuff stories. Details on the last and more serious one is found at Squat Injury. These various injuries could be due to the stiffness from the SPS, which has worsened since the last injury.

Then in the summer of 2024, I developed pain first in my left elbow then in the right one. The pain is on the little knob on the inside of the elbow. That makes it “golfer’s elbow” as opposed to “tennis elbow,” which is pain on the outside of the elbow. Taking ibuprofen before my workouts and wearing an elbow band just under the elbow while lifting helps alleviate the pain sufficiently that I can work out. Ice during the day helps also.

Despite, or better, because of all of these problems, I had been competing in powerlifting contests since 2003. It is very difficult to do so given these problems, and entering a contest always leaves me wiped out for the next week. That is why I have only entered one or two contests a year. But doing so gives me an incentive to keep working out at a high intensity, which, as indicated, helps with both my physical and emotional problems.

It was being unable to do so due to injuries and a worsening of my health problems that led in part to a worsening of my mental and spiritual states in 2010-13. But the LORD brought me out of that state, as I took steps to improve my physical state (again, see Steps to Being Emotionally and Spiritually Uplifted and Regaining Muscular Bodyweight and Strength).

With my setback at the end of last year through the beginning of this year, I was forced to take a week off of lifting in late February. When I started lifting again, I had to drop the weights down 10-15%. I was then slowly trying to work my way back up. I had hoped to enter a contest in autumn of this year (2025), maybe the same contest in September I enter last year.

But then on May 22, 205 I reinjured my left adductor (inner thigh muscle). I initially injured it doing Squats back in February of 2010. I injured it again doing Squats in June 2022, a week before my second shoulder surgery. Then I injured it on Squats once again. That ends any thoughts of competing again this year.

With this latest injury and my other recent problems, I have a long way to go to get back to where I was before my last contest, if I am ever able to do so given that I am now 64. But a renewed faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is enabling me to deal with the absence of competition. Whether I ever powerlift again or not is an open question and in the hands of the LORD.

Most of these problems are discussed in further detail on the Dealing with Health Difficulties section my fitness website.

Treatment Suggestions

I’ve had many people make suggestions in regards to my health problems over the years. But before you do, I’ve already tried just about everything both traditional and alternative health care have to offer for my various health problems. The medical doctors cannot help me as I’ve been sensitive to or experienced negative side effects from almost every medication they’ve tried prescribing, including every allergy medication. And most of their tests come back negative, so they cannot figure out what is wrong with me, let alone offer any real suggestions.

As for alternative treatments, I’ve tried a wide variety of different “natural” treatments, and they either made no difference at all or made me even worse. In fact, I blame a particular alternative treatment (NAET) for my health becoming as poor as it is today, and I strongly discourage anyone from trying it. But what alternative treatments have done is to cause me to waste a whole lot of money as such treatments are usually not covered by insurance, contributing to my current financial difficulties.

In any case, I’ve experimented with a long list of supplements. I’ve found a few that have helped somewhat, but I’ve been sensitive to or have had negative side effects from most of them. Thus again, I’ve wasted a lot of money. Some of the various treatments I’ve tried are discussed on the above mentioned section of my fitness site, and some of the supplements I’ve tried are discussed on the Supplements section of that site.

But the few that I take are helpful. I found that out when a doctor asked me to stop all of my supplements for a week before a blood test. She wasn’t sure how the supplements would affect the blood tests results. My tics flared up all week long, so I barely slept. But when I finally fell asleep in the early mornings, when I woke up, I was extremely stiff and in much overall body pain that lasted all morning. Normally, my morning pain and stiffness is mild and only lasts a few minutes. It is only the mornings after I leave my home that they flare up that bad. In those cases, it can sometimes last much of the day, with my fatigue being worse as well. That is why I rarely leave my home. It takes a day or two for me to recover whenever I do. And all of those supplements add up to a bit of an expense, further adding to my financial difficulties.

Sometimes I would feel like the woman described in Mark 5:26, “and having suffered many [things] under many physicians and having spent all the [things] with her [fig., everything that she had] and not having been benefited at all, but rather having come to [be] much worse” (ALT3c). But I have now come to accept my health problems and have no intents of trying anything else to try to overcome them. I discuss this attitude in the chapter on Jeremiah in my Under Control book.

But to specify, most likely, it is the magnesium and potassium I take that helps to control my tics, and the HMB and Glutamine that helps to lessen my overall body pain and stiffness and reduces post-workout soreness. My other main supplement is creatine. It doesn't help with any health issues, but it does help with my lifting progress.

However, I have not found anything that helps with the fatigue, except for caffeine that is. For most of my life, I avoided becoming dependent on caffeine like so many people, as it always bothered me when people would say they could not function until they had their morning cup of coffee. I just did not want to become dependent on external stimulants, especially with the way I would watch people go from a cup of coffee, to two, then three, then a whole pot. And besides, I do not like coffee. I don’t even like the smell.

But I do like tea, and with my fatigue, I finally broke down and got in the habit of drinking a cup of green tea in the mornings and black tea in the afternoons. I don’t generally drink it hot. I brew a quart at a time, cool it in the fridge, then drink it iced. It is of course organic green and black tea. But even then, some organics teas cause me problems. The brand I tolerate best is Equal Exchange Green Tea and Black Tea. But unfortunately, it is a bit more pricy than even other organic brands. I also use Guarana powder at dinner for a kick before my workouts.

Otherwise in regards to diet, as mentioned, I have a degree in Nutrition Science, so I know a lot about the subject and have tried many different types of diets. It was while I was following a vegan (and thus dairy free) diet that my current health problems began. And it was when I also went gluten free that my health grew worse. I’ve tried a gluten-free diet a couple of more times since and either got even worse or it made no difference. I’ve also tried a low-carb diet and other restrictive types of diets, all to no avail, or again, they made me worse. The low-carb diet, for instance, caused my LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels to skyrocket. As a result, I discourage people from trying any such restrictive diets. After much personal experimentation, research, and Bible study, I came up a non-restrictive dietary plan that works best for me. It is described in my God-given Foods Eating Plan and Creationist Diet: Second Edition books.

In addition, as mentioned, I can only consume organic or at least all natural foods, as I am sensitive to any kind of artificial food ingredients and hormones and antibiotics given to commercially raised animals. I am also sensitive to many different foods and food ingredients, strange things like vinegar, lemon juice, and coconut. As a result, I have to read food ingredients carefully and cannot consume many basic foods, like condiments.

If I deviate from that avoidance, it can have the same results as leaving my home. I’ve found that out on more than one occasion when consuming leftovers from family gathering. My sister-in-law makes most of the food, and it is very good, but none of it is organic. But it is so good, I just cannot resist. But after the second or third time eating that food I have often had the tics or other difficulties flare-up at night preventing sleep, then the extended and more severe morning pain, stiffness, and fatigue.

In fact, it is often the second time I am exposed to something I am sensitive to that I have problems. That goes for foods, medications, supplements, and even various medical treatments, like shots. The first time I got a cortisone shot for shoulder pain, it did not bother me. But the second time, my tics flared up that entire weekend, so I didn’t sleep a wink. But sometimes, just one such shot can cause me problems. That happened at the dentist a while back with a Novocain shot. My tics flared up for a month.

In any case, that is why I need to consume only organic foods. However, they are considerably more expensive than conventional foods, further adding to my financial woes.

All of that is to explain why I said to please refrain from making suggestions. I know people are just trying to help, but please understand, I’ve probably already tried whatever you might suggest. But prayer and encouraging words are always appreciated.

My Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Schedule

I have been able to remain productive, to work on my books and other writings and to train for powerlifting despite all of the above health problems due to having a home office and a home gym. They enable me to have a rather unique daily, weekly, and monthly schedule. Explaining my schedule will help the reader to better understand my rather complex health situation and my life in general.

Daily Schedule:

The reason for the unique daily schedule is, due to my fibromyalgia fatigue, I can only work at my computer for an hour to so at a time before I start to get tired. If I try to push through the fatigue, I end up extremely exhausted. I have found it best to take a break before that happens by doing something else or by laying down and resting for half an hour to an hour before I am able to continue working. If I don’t stop and end up exhausted, I need to rest much longer to recover.

It may sound strange, but I find I can work out for a longer period than I can work before getting fatigued. As such, my workouts usually last about an hour and a half. But no longer, as that is when I get overly fatigued. But I need to rest before and afterwards.

I have also found I feel worse in the mornings after days I don’t work out than after days that I do. But I also know I need at least on day of rest a week. God knew what He was doing when He commanded, “⁹Six days you will labor and will do all your work. ¹⁰But the seventh day [is the] Sabbath to the LORD your God; you will not do any work in it” (Exodus 20:9-10a; ALT). That is why I would like to work out five days a week, while a sixth day is spent in the kitchen preparing foods for the rest of the week or doing basic house cleaning.

I make Wednesdays that food prep and cleaning day day and Saturdays my off day. That means I work out on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. I used to work out in the afternoons, with plans of getting another hour or so of work done in the evenings, after resting after dinner.

Specifically, I used to work out in the late afternoons, shower, then eat dinner, then rest an hour, then try to work another hour, then go to bed. However, very often, I would be too tired to get up and do that additional hour of work in the evenings, and I would just spend the evening watching TV. Also, even with not leaving my home, often something would happen that would leave me in an allergic or sensitive state, and I would need to take a second shower. I feel like a shower helps to lessen such a reaction, so I always shower when I come home from being out or when something happens in my home to get me in such a state. Opening packages or even just the mail and house cleaning, for instance, can be problematic.

In any case, for those reasons, I recently changed my schedule and now work out in the evenings after dinner, shower, then go to bed. In that way, I am able to get another hour of work in the afternoons, and I go to bed feeling clean and with my sensitivities calmed down. As a result, I have been sleeping better (see Sleep News Articles).

I’ve long thought that getting fatigued while using my desktop PC might have something to do with the EMF radiation from my computer. That is why I was probably one of the first to get a flat-panel monitor when they first became available, it was supposed to emit less radiation than an old style monitor, but it made no difference.

Most mornings, I have a load of wash to do. With my sensitivities, I do a lot of wash, as I generally can only wear a set of clothes once or twice before putting then in the wash. Sometimes I need to change two or three times a day, along with a different set of workout clothes. I also only use a bath towel and washcloth once, and I change my sheets at least once a week. I also have a daybed in my home office, so when I get tired during the day, I can easily lay down and rest, and I usually take a nap in the early afternoons. But that gives me another set of sheets to wash.

By the time I even get to my home office, it is usually between 8-9:00 am. I then have a couple of hours to work, but at some point, I always need to lay down on that daybed to rest for half an hour and take a break for my mid-morning snack. But then I need to put clothes in the wash for the next day’s washing and maybe do a bit of cleaning and bring stuff upstairs to the kitchen from the pantry downstairs, then get lunch, load the dishwasher or wash by hand what doesn’t fit in it or that I don’t like putting in the dishwasher, like Teflon skillets and pans. Then I go back to my office, not to work but to take that nap. Then I go back upstairs and unload the dishwasher and do a few other things in the kitchen.

I then return to my office, maybe work a bit, eat my mid-afternoon snack, then rest. Then work for another hour or so, then rest again. Then go upstairs for dinner, then rest a bit, then work out. Then I shower, eat a bedtime snack, then go to bed by 9:45 pm.

My schedule on Wednesdays is a bit different in that I spend more time in the mornings cleaning and more time in the afternoons in the kitchen. With doing so, by after dinner, I am too tired to do any more work, so I just watch TV for an hour or so, shower, then go to bed.

On Saturdays, I avoid physical activity as much as possible. But I do work at my PC in the mornings, until lunchtime. But then Saturday afternoons and evening are my rest time. It is only then that I watch a significant amount of TV. On normal days, I watch maybe 1-1/2 hours.

Altogether, I average about three hours of actual work on my PC a day. On the rare times I get a good night’s sleep, I might be awake and work for an hour before breakfast. There are also times when I cannot sleep, so I get up in the middle of night, work for an hour or so, until I feel tired enough that I think I can get back to sleep, then go back to bed. That then adds another hour. But four hours a day is the upper limit.

But I do try to work seven days a week, with Saturdays being half a day. That gives me about 15-20 hours of work a week. Nowhere near full-time, but I try to be as efficient as possible. But I lose work time if I need to go out anywhere. Not only is there the actual time spent out, but I need to shower and rest when I get home. Thus, a doctor’s appointment in the morning can pretty much wipe out a day of work.

I also lose work time when I have problems to deal with. I'll also lose time whenever I have a health setback, causing me to feel too awful to get much of anything done. And lately, I seem to be getting more forgetful and making mistakes, forcing me to redo or go back and do something I forgot to do. And I seem to be dropping things a lot lately, further worrying me. This week, for instance, I spent more time on the phone or chat trying to resolve various tech problems and to make medical appointments than I did working. And that little work time was spent correcting and re-correcting updates to this bio and correcting a few mistakes I found in the hardcopy and eBook formats of a couple of my books while reviewing the audiobooks.

But still, my day consists of alternating periods of working, eating, resting, and lifting. In this way, I am able to squeeze in sufficient work time that resulted in all of the above books and other writings and all of the needed training that resulted in all of the above indicated powerlifting accomplishments.

I am able to follow such a complex schedule due to not being married nor having children, so I only have myself to be concerned about. In fact, it is probably due to not having such that I have been able to accomplish as much as I have in regard to my writing and lifting. I do not have a wife and children taking up my limited energies, so I can focus those limited energies on my writing and lifting.

Though I live with my dad, I actually do not see him much. Most of the time I am downstairs where my home gym and office are located, while he is upstairs, outside working in the yard or in his garden, or going out somewhere. We generally only talk three times a day, in the mornings before we go our separate ways to let each other know what the other is going to be doing. My dad eats lunch before me, as we both cannot be in our tiny kitchen at the same time preparing our respective meals, but he joins me when I eat lunch so we can talk about our mornings and what we will be doing in the afternoon. Then we eat dinner together and talk about the rest of the day.

Prayer Times:

This daily schedule gives me many natural times for prayer: before each of the 6-7 meals and whenever I first lay down to sleep or rest, and again before I get up from sleeping or resting. I also try to pray before I start working in the mornings and in the afternoons and before my workouts in the evenings. I also might say a very short prayer before a heavy set. You can see that in my workout videos when I look up right before starting a set.

Weekly Schedule:

Also due to my health situation, I have an unique weekly schedule. As indicated, I work out five days a week in the later afternoons. I do one load of wash four or five times a week in the mornings. I used to do it all on Tuesdays, but that proved to be too much, so I spread it out. I also spend time in the kitchen in the mornings or early afternoons preparing healthy foods to eat the rest of the day and week and again, even more time on such on Wednesdays.

Again, Saturdays are hen a half off day from working and full off day from working out or anything physical. But it must be noted, I did not choose Saturdays as that off day rather than Sundays due to religious/ Seventh Day Adventist type of reasons. I did so for the very practical reason that Fridays is generally the only day that I leave my home on the rare times that I do so. As such, I need Saturdays to recover from going out.

To explain, as indicated, very often, whenever I leave my home, I will feel terrible the next day. That is due to my MCS flaring up, as when I go out, I will inevitably be exposed to something I am sensitive to. That exposure will in turn cause one or more of my other health problems to flare up. Specifically, I probably won’t sleep well that night due to my RLS, tics, or one or more of my other health problems flaring up. Then if I do get any sleep, when I wake up, my fibromyalgia might flare up, in that I will be in pain all over and very fatigued.

The worst is my SPS can flare up, so that I will be almost completely paralyzed, especially in my legs. As a result, I will have a hard time just getting out of bed and making it across my bedroom to turn on the light. That fatigue, pain, and stiffness can then last for several minutes to several hours. Sometimes, I will barely be able to function the entire day. But since I already planned on not working much nor working out, that flare-up does not affect my productivity.

The reason I make Fridays my going out day and Saturday my rest day, rather Saturday being my going out day and Sunday being my rest day, is for practical reasons. First, I do my grocery shopping on Fridays once a month at Pittsburgh’s East End Food Co-op. The Co-op is about half an hour from my home. I shop at the Co-op rather than a closer regular grocery store, as the Co-op only sells all-natural and mostly organic food. With my MCS, that is the only kind of food I can eat regularly. The smells at the co-op also do not bother me near as much as at traditional grocery stores.

Along with the hour round trip, I usually spend at least an hour in the Co-op, then another hour putting everything away, then maybe more time preparing some of it. Altogether, it ends up being a day-long affair, and I am quite exhausted afterwards. That again is why I plan on taking the next day off, so that I can recover.

I go on Friday mornings as they are not very busy at that time, but they are fully stocked up for the weekend. Not being busy is important, as being in a crowded, closed area can cause my MCS to flare up, which again, can cause my other problems to flare up. That is why I have not gone to church in almost twenty years, as a crowded church building would really cause me problems. In fact, the last time I tried going to church, back in the mid-00s, I had to leave halfway through the service, as I was beginning to feel just too awful. The Co-op is very busy on Saturdays, so if I went then, I would have the same problem. And if I went earlier in the week, they are often out of stock of many items after the weekend rush, before they are able to re-stock.

In addition, I always try to schedule my doctor and dentist appointments on Fridays. That I could not do on Saturdays, as most doctors’ offices are closed then. And again, the smells at a doctor’s office often cause me problems, so I need that rest day the next day to recover. Since I know I will feel awful the next day anyway, before or after the doctor’s appointment, I will sometimes meet a friend for lunch at a restaurant or go to visit a relative. That way, I can at least have a bit of a social life.

However, Saturdays are generally not full rest days. If I feel up to it, I do generally work in the mornings, until lunchtime. But then after lunch and through the rest of the day I generally lounge around watching TV. If I did that the entire day, I would get too bored.

Note also, whenever I go out, when I get home, all of the clothes I am wearing go straight into the wash, then I jump into the shower, then put on clean clothes. That helps to calm any allergic reaction I might be in. I then run a house fan, a large fan in the ceiling in middle of the main hallway, to get rid of any smells I brought into my home.

My dad knows to change clothes when he goes out and comes back in and then to run the house fan. This is also why I never have visitors to my home. I cannot risk them bringing smells into my home that would be hard to get rid of, as they would not be changing clothes and could be wearing make-up and the like that could cause me problems.

Monthly Schedule:

I have found I need an “extra” day off from lifting about once a month to keep from getting overtrained. That is also Biblical, in that in the Old Testament there are several “feast days” in which no work was to be done, in addition to the weekly Sabbath (e.g., Leviticus 23:7,25,28,36,39; Deut 16:8; Esther 9:17-22). If you add up all of the prescribed extra days of rest, it comes to about a dozen, or about one a month. I try to make that extra off day a Friday or Sunday. In that way, I have two days off in a row. I always feel refreshed and like it’s been a long time since I worked out when I work out again.

Also, when I know I will be taking a Sunday off, I might try to so something social on the Saturday before, knowing I will have the next day to recover. In that way, between an occasional Friday and Saturday social activity, I have some semblance of a social life. But I have been doing that less and less, as I just feel too awful afterwards to make it worth it. But that means I have a very limited social life and something I need to plan ahead for. I just cannot do spontaneous activities, as all of these factors need to be considered every time.

Favorite Bible Passages

Below are my favorite Biblical passages, taken from my translation of the New Testament:

But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength (2Timothy 4:17a).

³⁵Who will separate us from the love of Christ? [Will] affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? ³⁶Just as it has been written, "For Your sake we are being put to death the whole day; we were accounted as sheep for slaughter." [Psalm 44:22] ³⁷But in all these [things] we are completely victorious through the One having loved us. ³⁸For I have been persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor powers nor [things] present nor things about to be ³⁹nor height nor depth nor any other created [thing] will be able to separate us from the love of God, the [one] in Christ Jesus our Lord! (Rom 8:35-39).

¹⁴Therefore, having a great High Priest [who] has passed through the heavens—Jesus, the Son of God—let us be holding fast our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a High Priest [who is] unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but [One] having been tried in all [respects] in the same way [we are, yet] without sin. ¹⁶Therefore, let us be approaching with boldness [or, a joyful sense of freedom] to the throne of grace, so that we shall receive mercy and find grace for well-timed help. (Hebrews 4:14-16).

To email me, see the Contact Information page.

This autobiography was first posted in 2008.
It was last updated June 20, 2025.

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