Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone

You know I have been playing with AI apps for a while and love them. They have been evolving recently and becoming more useful every day. I encourage everyone, young or old, to experiment with AI. It’s not that hard because you don’t need to know the science behind it. Treat them as tools or toys, and you will discover they are useful tools and fun toys that can help you get things done.
Some experts say the advent of AI is as significant as the invention of electricity. I agree because it permanently changes how we live, move, and have our being. Like it or not, it won’t go away. So, why not make good use of it?
I am sure you have heard in the news about the DeepSeek AI model that rocked the tech stock market. In short, competition benefits consumers like you and me because the application of AI is becoming significantly cheaper.
You might also have heard the concern about job losses due to AI. It depends on how you look at it. AI will surely replace many jobs but also create many new opportunities.
To help you navigate the AI revolution from the spiritual perspective, let me start with an ancient parable on innovation:
Huizi told his friend Zhuangzi that the king bestowed upon him a seed of the legendary giant gourd, which he planted in his garden. Months passed, and the gourd grew to an astonishing size, weighing over a hundred pounds.
Huizi had a hard time making use of the giant gourd. “I tried to use it as a water bottle, but it was too heavy and big to carry. I cut it in half to make a dipper, but it was too wide to scoop into anything. Since it was too big to be useful, I smashed it into pieces and threw it away.”
Zhuangzi smiled and said, “You certainly are too stupid to use big things. The giant gourd held within it a wealth of possibilities, limited only by your imagination.” Then Zhuangzi told him a parable (that the parable wrapped within a parable):
In the enchanting era of the Song Dynasty, there lived a humble man whose livelihood revolved around washing silk by the river's edge. During winter, the icy water bit the hands, threatening to halt the family’s laundry business.
Fortunately, the family had concocted a magical balm, a potion that defied the bitter cold, protecting the hands and faces from the biting frost and the painful chap so their family income would not be cut off during winters.
One day, a visitor approached the family with a tantalizing offer. In exchange for the secret formula of the winter lotion, he offered them a hundred pieces of gold, a sum they could not afford to pass up.
The family decided to take the generous offer and entrusted the secret formula to the visitor. The visitor took it to the capital city and offered it to the emperor for military use. The emperor commissioned him to lead a marine force against the southern invaders through the waterways.
With the advantage of the secret formula, they emerged victorious in the cold winter marine warfare, driving back the invaders and securing the dynasty's future. Upon his triumphant return, the emperor bestowed upon him the prestigious title of a feudal lord.
Zhuangzi then said to his friend Huizi, “See, in the hands of the launderer, the secret balm is nothing more than a tool to make a living. But in the hands of a visionary man, this formula shaped the destiny of a nation.
“Your giant gourd is useless to you because your imagination is too small. You could have put that giant gourd in the lake and ridden on it as a magnificent boat. There are also many other creative ways you could use it for.” (End of the story.)
This parable warns us of the danger of thinking small. Let’s say the giant gourd is the AI of our time. For the short-sighted, AI represents a threat. For the visionary, AI represents immense opportunity. This story is not about belittling the small thinkers but spurring all of us to set our creative imagination free.
Today, we will look at how Jesus transformed a group of fishermen from merely making a living with their skills to transforming the world by teaching them to think deep, aim high, and serve bold, building God’s eternal kingdom instead of just feeding a small family.
What Jesus taught in today’s scripture lesson is applicable to our AI revolution as it was during the dawn of the new era of the first century. If you learn this, nothing in this world can burden you with anxiety, worries, and fear. Instead, you will maintain faith, hope, and love at all times. Let’s begin!

One of my favorite fables is about a scientific experiment on monkeys.
Once upon a time, a group of scientists decided to observe the behavior of monkeys in a unique setting. They placed five monkeys in a large room. At the center of this room stood a tall ladder, and at the very top of the ladder hung something irresistible: a bunch of golden, ripe bananas.
The monkeys, as you can imagine, were thrilled. They chattered excitedly, their eyes fixed on the delicious prize. It didn’t take long for one monkey to make a bold move. It scampered up the ladder, eager to grab the bananas.
But just as the monkey reached for the fruit, an automatic sprinkler sprayed the monkey with icy cold water. The monkey screeched in shock and ran down the ladder immediately, shivering as the water drenched it.
Soon, another monkey tried its luck. It climbed the ladder, determined to succeed where the first had failed. But again, the sprinkler sprayed it with freezing water.
One by one, each monkey attempted to climb, and each time, the hero was drenched. Before long, something remarkable happened: the monkeys stopped trying altogether. Even when tempted by the delicious bananas, they avoided the ladder entirely.
The scientists then removed one of the original monkeys and brought in a new one. This fresh monkey had no idea about the water spray. Spotting the bananas, it immediately started climbing the ladder.
But before it could reach the top, something unexpected happened. The other monkeys sprang into action, pulling the newcomer down, screeching and flailing their arms, as if they didn’t want the new monkey to suffer the water drench!
Shocked and confused, the new monkey quickly learned climbing the ladder was forbidden.
Over time, the scientists replaced another monkey, then another, until none of the original monkeys remained.
Now, the room was filled with monkeys who had never experienced the spray of water. Yet they continued to enforce the unspoken rule. Anytime a new monkey tried to climb the ladder, the group would pull it down and teach it not to try.
The bananas still hung untouched at the top of the ladder, and no monkey questioned why climbing was forbidden. They had simply inherited the behavior. (End of the story.)
This tale isn’t just about monkeys and bananas. It’s a mirror held up to human behavior. I’d call it the “Wet Monkey Syndrome.”
When you aspire to fulfill your dream, you will encounter those wet monkeys trying to tear you down and inject their trauma into you. It’s like misery loves company.
Understanding this human behavior can set you free to live life to the fullest, accomplishing your life mission without obstacles.
So, today, we will look at how Jesus deals with these wet monkeys based on this week’s scripture lesson so that we know when to let go of the losers and how to invest our precious time on earth on the low-hanging fruits and ripe harvests. Let’s begin!

Once upon a time, in a quaint little town, a wealthy traveler happened upon a sight that took his breath away. It was a magnificent two-story building, and the second floor, oh, it was a thing of beauty! The veranda seemed to whisper promises of relaxation, and the roof design was like nothing he'd ever seen before.
The rich man just had to find out who had created this architectural wonder. He searched high and low until he finally found the carpenter responsible. "You!" he exclaimed, "You must come to my city and build me a second floor just like the one I saw. I'll pay any price you ask!"
The carpenter, a man of few words, simply nodded and set to work. For a whole month, he poured his heart and soul into building the rich man's dream. When the wealthy traveler returned to see the finished product, he couldn't believe his eyes. There was the second floor he'd asked for, but wait... what was that underneath it? A first floor?!
The rich man was furious! He confronted the carpenter, shouting, "I asked for the second floor, not the first! Tear it down, now!"
But the carpenter, calm as can be, replied, "Sir, you can't have the second floor without the first. It's the foundation that holds up all that beauty you admire."
The wealthy man wasn't having it. "I'm not paying for something I didn't ask for!" he huffed. "You'll get your money for the second floor, and that's it!"
The carpenter, a wise man, tried to explain, "The first floor is like the backbone of the whole building. Without it, the second floor would come crashing down. You can't have one without the other." (End of the story).
This story may sound silly, but it’s an ancient fable to enlighten those who want to ignore the foundation to achieve a higher goal. It resembles Jesus’ parable of building a house on the sand.
What is your higher goal? What’s your dream second floor you want to build? What’s your life mission? We all want our life count. What would he say if we asked God what we should do to make our three scores and ten most meaningful? I think Prophet Micah summarized it nicely, short and sweet:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;and what does the LORD require of youbut to do justice, and to love kindness,and to walk humbly with your God? (Mic 6:8).
The Lord has told us what makes life good and meaningful. As believers, we are called to follow in Christ's footsteps, proclaiming good news, working for justice, and demonstrating compassion to a world in need.
Those are worthwhile missional goals, but they are our second floor. Many social justice warriors today fail to build the first floor. So, their social justice movement is like a castle in the air.
Without the first floor, social justice can be not only a failure but also destructive to society. For example, communism is a social justice movement without the first floor. As a result, it has brought more destruction than construction.
Today, we will explore Jesus' mission, which is now our mission, and make sure we have the solid first floor as our strong foundation for fulfilling our mission and making our lives good and meaningful. Let’s begin!

There was a woman who was diagnosed with a terminal illness. The doctor gave her three months to live.  She had a gift of evangelism and always loved sharing her faith. But now, realizing that her life was cut short, she decided to use her funeral as her final opportunity to share her faith.
She gave her pastor her funeral plan, which included singing her favorite hymns and reading her favorite scriptures. She also wanted to be buried with her favorite Bible next to her.
Then she took out a silver fork and asked the pastor to make sure that she had the fork in her hand when they laid her in the casket.
Surprised by her request, the pastor asked why she wanted to be buried with a fork.  The woman explained, “Each time I was at a dinner party, the servers would come to clear the plates after the meal.  I would give them everything, but every now and then, they would say, ‘Ma’am, please keep your fork.’  I knew right away that they were serving dessert.  The best is yet to come!
“So, I just want people to see me in that casket with a shiny fork in my hand, and I want them to wonder, ‘What’s with the fork?’  I want them to know my life doesn’t end here and now.  The best is yet to come. This will be my final opportunity to share my faith so my friends can join me in the eternal carnival with Christ with never-ending celebration and joy!
“So, pastor, I want you to be my voice.  When they see the fork in my hand and ask a question like the one you asked me.  I want you to tell them that it means my life does not end here and now.  The best is yet to come because of the grace of Christ, and I want them to enjoy the same future as I do.”
Sure enough, as the pastor stood next to the casket, one after another, who came to view her for the final time, asked the same question.  He answered them individually and included the story in his funeral sermon to let everyone know that the fork in her hand meant the best was yet to come.
(End of the story.)
Despite all the ups and downs, tears, and toils, life is still pretty fun! No one wants to die except in extreme cases. Most people fear death because they think the end of life is also the end of fun.
We fear the unknown and the uncertain. Who knows what’s on the other side of death? A few books have been written by those who have died and returned, but we take them with a grain of salt because they are anecdotal.
What if life after death is a never-ending banquet or carnival, where there’s no tear, no pain, no sickness, but eternal love, joy, and peace? If so, is it available for everyone? If not, how do we ensure we will have it? Can we also have a foretaste of it?
Yes, Jesus has given us a foretaste of eternal joy. Based on this week's scripture lesson, you and I will taste it today. Let’s begin!

Life is complicated, but I am a simple man who likes to simplify complex concepts without losing their essence. Many philosophers have tried to resolve life’s issues, but I feel they still make it more complicated than I like. I want to find a secret of life that I can succinctly articulate and live by.
I admire Einstein, who found the secret of energy and put it into a simple formula: e=mc2. It’s so simple that we all know it, but it solves a complex problem. With that simple formula, scientists have solved many complicated energy issues, built nuclear power plants, and even created shockingly powerful atomic bombs. 
If we can simplify life into a simple formula, I can solve my own life problems and help others solve their problems. Can we make life simple? By simple, I do not mean a minimalist lifestyle. I mean a simple formula to make life easier to navigate.
After decades of scouring the scriptures, I have found the formula. The simple secret of life is revealed in the early story of the wise King Solomon, and also at Jesus’ baptism. Let’s talk about Solomon first. When King Solomon became the king of Israel, he was nervous, feeling inadequate to lead the country. The Bible says,
“Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David.” (1 Ki 3:3).
The king went to Gibeon and offered burnt offerings to the Lord. The Lord saw his devotion, and the Bible says,
“At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” (1 Ki 3:5).
What would you ask if God gave you a blank check like that? When God asks them this question, most people might think they won a jackpot. However, Solomon began by praising God for God’s faithfulness to his father, and then he showed his self-awareness, a sign of maturity, knowing his inadequacy for the job. He said,
“And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.” (1 Ki 3:7).
Solomon was only twenty years old when he became king. Yet he seemed mature enough not to become haughty but was fully aware of his age and lack of skill and experience, so he asked,
“Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” (1 Ki 3:9).
He asked for wisdom and understanding to govern the people God entrusted in him. The next verse says,
“It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.” (1 Ki 3:10).
This is where the secret of life is: to please God. Then God explained why he was pleased. Solomon didn’t ask for wealth and military might. With consciousness of his situation, he sincerely expresses his desire to serve God’s people effectively with wisdom and understanding.
How do we please God? Serve people! Many people have it backward; they try to please people and serve God instead. God doesn’t need us to serve Him because He has many angels and heavenly beings who can do a better job. But God wants us to serve his people on earth.
King Solomon wasn’t perfect, but he learned this from his father, King David. King David wasn’t perfect either. They are all imperfect human beings. The point is not about perfection but about the secret of life. And they got it. They knew the secret chord that pleases the Lord.
Later God sends a perfect on who pleases the Lord perfectly and we all must emulate. The Bible says, after Jesus received his baptism, God’s voice came from heaven, saying,
“You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Lk 3:22b).
Many people don’t understand why God was pleased. They thought God was pleased because Jesus was his Son. When you put it in the context of the entire Bible, it becomes clear why God was pleased. It’s because Jesus came to serve. Jesus said,
“For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:45).
God was pleased because Jesus came to serve the people; his service is ultimate because he gave his life. To serve is to give; what more can a person give than his own life? That’s why his service is the ultimate service.
So today, we will review the secret of life revealed in the Bible and ultimately exemplified by God’s own Son, Jesus Christ. Today is the Sunday commemorating The Baptism of the Lord. From Jesus’ baptism, we will explore the simple formula of life. I’ll put it this way:
L = PS2 (Life equals Pleasing God and Serving People Sacrificially. Square means more than mere serving but serving sacrificially like Jesus did). If you follow this simple formula, life becomes meaningful because that’s the Great Commandment in practice. Let’s dive into it and see how we can apply it in our lives based on today’s scripture lesson. Let’s begin!

Happy Epiphany! When was the last time you had an epiphany? I would love to hear about it. The Native Americans have a device called a Dream Catcher. But I would like to introduce Epiphany Catcher—not a device but a skill.
Epiphanies can be big or small, subtle or vivid, but each epiphany raises our consciousness to a higher level, enriching our lives with meaning, joy, and hope.
I had an epiphany recently. Sophie and I went for the First Day Hike on Mount Taurus in Cold Spring, New York, on New Year’s Day. This part used to be the estate of the Cornish family, covering about 650 acres of breathtakingly beautiful land on Hudson Highlands.
We stopped by the remains of the impressive stone and brick Cornish mansion overlooking the Hudson River. Later, we arrived at a waterfall, and our guide told us that it was the end of the guided hike. We were free to continue hiking or return with him to the parking lot with the guide.
Sophie and I chose to hike further since we didn’t feel tired yet, and the weather was not bad. It was cloudy, but it didn’t rain until we returned to the car later. On our way, we saw a vast old broken cistern.
Having just seen a waterfall, I remember the Lord’s Word through Jeremiah,
   “My people have committed two evils:    they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water,    and dug out cisterns for themselves,    cracked cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jer 2:13).
We just saw a waterfall and now a cistern, and it was as if this verse had come to life. The natural waterfall still flows like living water, but this manmade cistern is broken. The two images and this verse stayed in my head for the whole week. It was an epiphany for me!
Throughout history, people have kept committing these two evils—forsaking the Lord, the fountain of living water, and digging out cisterns for themselves that cannot hold water. We forsake the eternal for the temporal. It reminds me to embrace the eternal over temporal.
If you are wondering what epiphany means, it’s translated from the Greek “ἐπιφαίνω (epiphaínō),” which is usually translated as “appearance” or “manifestation.” The root word “φαίνω (phaínō)” means “to shine” or “to come to light.” In that case, it also means “enlightenment.”
So, epiphany is something you see that enlightens you and takes you to a higher level of consciousness. Simply put, your epiphany is your “aha” moment due to what you see.
Epiphany of the Lord is a Christian festival after the twelve days of Christmas. I am glad that our faith fathers designated a day and a season of Epiphany to remind us of the importance of epiphany. There are four to nine weeks after Epiphany before Lent.
We should use this season to cultivate the skill to catch epiphanies. An epiphany can be a life-changing experience. If you have frequent epiphanies, life can become very exciting. Life is not worth living without epiphanies.
Epiphany is also known as the Three Kings Day because it commemorates the visit of the three wise men or magi to baby Jesus. Two thousand years ago, a group of wise men from the Far East paid attention to the signs of the divine and noticed that a significant King was born.
It was so significant that they journeyed seven thousand miles to pay homage to this child. So, today, let us learn to capture epiphanies by learning from the story of these wise men so we can also enjoy life with hope, excitement, and wonder. Let’s begin!

Start Your New Year Jesus’ WayLuke 2:41–52What I like about New Year is that it allows me to start over again. It’s like a fresh new diary book to write another 365 pages of my dream journey. Whether you regard 2024 as a successful year for you or not, the new year gives you another starting point to renew your dream.Another thing I like about the New Year is that it marks a new milestone in an incredible miracle in history. Our calendar is a testimony to Jesus Christ. We often neglect the significance of the calendar we see every day. 2025 means it has been two thousand and twenty-five years since the birth of Jesus Christ, more or less.It’s a miracle because it was about a child born to a young peasant woman in an obscure town behind an obscure inn in a probably smelly manger. After his birth, his king tried to murder him, so his family had to escape to Egypt. He was a refugee kid.Even the town he grew up in later was so obscure that people in those days believed nothing good could come out of Nazareth. With all the obstacles and obscurity, this child broke human history into two parts: BC and AD—BCE and CE to make it politically correct.No matter how you call it, 2025 still points back to the birth of Christ. Each time you put down your signature, you refer to Jesus Christ by putting the date next to it. Even the atheist communists must make reference to him.Christmas is not just a joyful winter solstice celebration or a year-end commercial festival. We must not see it any less than the immense impact of an obscure child that divided our history into two parts. Each time I look at the calendar, I see the evidence of a miracle that only God could have done.As we prepare for the New Year and take another shot at life to make it more fruitful, I believe we can learn significantly from this divine child who has made the maximum impact in the world. This Sunday’s scripture lesson gives us a clue on how Jesus grew in three aspects of life: Wisdom, Maturity, and Charisma, which I call the three pillars of personal growth for maximum impact. According to Luke, that’s how the divine child grew up, and we can use these three pillars as our reference when making New Year's resolutions. Let’s check it out.

I read Leo Tolstoy’s Resurrection a few years ago. It was his last novel, published when he was 71. I have discovered that reading someone’s final works gives you the best of their lifetime wisdom, especially from a great thought leader like Tolstoy.
Most of you know Tolstoy for his famous book War and Peace. But did you know he had a spiritual awakening when he was around 50 years old? If you read his books written after that point, they will be more meaty, weighty, and highly spiritual.
Why should we take Tolstoy seriously? Here’s why. He is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times and the Nobel Peace Prize three times. That’s incredible! However, he did not get the award despite being nominated so many times, probably because he was critical of the governments and powerful religious institutions of his time.
Tolstoy was also known as a Christian Anarchist, submitting to no human ruler, including religious authority. Christian Anarchists believe Christ alone is their king and no one else. Are you one of them? Are you supposed to be one? Abraham was one. We will talk more about that later.
Tolstoy’s other book, The Kingdom of God is Within You, based on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, was banned in Russia but published in Germany. In that book, Tolstoy presented the idea of “nonviolent resistance,” which fueled the movements of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
By now, I am sure you are convinced that he should not be ignored.
The book Resurrection depicts the corruptive nature of society. If you are rich and powerful, you can be corrupted by your power, procession, and prestige; if you are poor, you might be forced to choose the wrong means to survive. So, whether rich or poor, the human civilization will corrupt you.
That’s why the wise King Solomon asked God not to make him too rich or too poor. He knew that if he were too rich, he could forget God; if he were too poor, he might dishonor God by committing crimes. That doesn’t preclude those in between because rich or poor is relative.
We live in a fallen world—a sea of suffering. What’s worse than suffering is its corruptive nature. It brings out the worst of you.
Tolstoy’s Resurrection takes us on a journey to see the injustice of the legal system, the prejudice of society, the hypocrisy of religious institutions, and, most importantly, the unintentionality of it, making it hard to change. He helps us see that many evils are done unintentionally or even with good intentions.
We often think those who fight for justice are righteous, but they often become a new force of injustice. Communism is an example. It starts out with good intentions but ends up worse than the evil they fight against. We all want to make this world better, but no one knows how to correct the wrongs the right way, except through a personal resurrection. If you want to change the world, change yourself. That change must be thorough; that is resurrection—the old must be gone, and the new must begin.
That community of new lives is called the kingdom of God, and I call it Civilization Next—the civilization of the resurrected people. The Kingdom of God is not just on the other side of death. You can experience the new life right now and right here because you belong to Civilization Next if you have accepted Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, you are in the world but not of the world. You live in the future now.
Based on the scripture lesson on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, we will look at two women in history who brought the Civilization Next to Earth—the 88-year-old Elizabeth and the 14-year-old Mary. Let’s begin!