"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have relighted the flame within us."
Albert Schweitzer
"The sinner, having forsaken the service of his God, falls under the dominance of Satan, and becomes the slave of his lowest passions, which are signified by the swine which the prodigal was forced to feed. But the more he obeys his passions, the more dissatisfied he becomes. No pleasure of the senses can give him happiness, and he feels an emptiness and spiritual hunger in his heart which he is powerless to satisfy. He knows no rest; he only knows that he is miserable, and hateful to himself...
Though the sinner has offended Him so grievously and so often, yet He does not reproach him, but forgives him everything, and restores him to his former rights and dignity of sonship. God alone can love in this way, and to us this sort of love is inconceivable. Our Lord portrays this narrow-mindedness of ours in the conclusion of the parable.
The elder son cannot understand his father’s joy; he murmurs at it, and refuses to take part in it; and even professes to believe that his father prefers the returned prodigal to himself, the faithful, obedient and industrious son. By this behaviour of the elder son our Lord signifies the jealousy of the Pharisees, who considered themselves to be just, and murmured at the deep interest which Jesus took in sinners."
Friedrich Justus Knecht, The Prodigal Son
‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’ And the expert in the law replied, ‘The one who showed mercy to him.’
And Jesus said, ‘Go and do likewise.’"
Luke 10:36-37
We are all lost without the help of the Lord.
Stocks slumped hard today, and a rally attempt into the close popped and flopped.
Is this the expected correction? Maybe, it's too soon to tell.
Stocks need to break quite a bit lower before we would start populating a CrashTrak model.
But as I have often said, we are one event, one crisis of sufficient magnitude away of a collapse in this bubbly market of mispriced risk.
Gold and silver gold off a bit.
Bitcoin has fallen to the bottom of its trading range. A further decline could trigger some cascade selling as leverage starts to bite.
VIX climbed quite a bit.
Some of this may be due to the revelations that Donnie apparently was hiding the truth about his involvement in the Epstein affair, and several key figures of his cabinet are deeply compromised.
Or it could be the ongoing provocations and war crimes in Latin America that seem to be a conflict of opportunity for oil and distraction.
Or the boiling conflicts in the Mideast, which the US and UK enable.
Or the proxy war in Ukraine.
Quite mess.
But it is not just a problem in the US. As Matt Hoh observes, Europe Is at War With Itself.
This is no isolated problem. It is an infection of almost diabolical obsession throughout the West.
We are all lost without the help of the Lord indeed.
But the good news literally is that this help, this beacon of light in the storm, is always there for us.
We just have to let go of our pride and corrupt emotions and ambitions and choose to come home.
Have a pleasant evening.
