About Me

The Man You're Dealing With

My name is Michael. I'm an owner at Forty Day Practice, and I created this because I needed it to survive.

For decades, I built the resume of a successful man. Home builder. Powerlifter. Professional wrestler. I won championships, set records, and projected strength to the world. But underneath all that muscle and achievement, I was hollow.

I was raised atheist by a father who taught me that men don't need God. I claimed I didn't believe—but when things fell apart, I cursed God anyway. That contradiction ate me alive. I had everything the world said would make me happy, and none of it filled the void.

By my 40s, the internal collapse caught up with my external world. My business failed. Injuries and chronic pain broke down the body I'd spent four decades building. Insomnia and depression stripped away any illusion that willpower alone could save me.

For nearly 30 years, I'd tried to think, train, and out-will my way to peace. It didn't work.

The Turning Point

I was broken enough to stop lying.

One Sunday, I decided to face the question I'd been avoiding my entire life. I walked toward a church for the first time in my adult life. But I froze at the edge of the driveway. Something in me knew: if I crossed this threshold, everything would change.

I turned around and went back inside.

But I couldn't let it go. I reached out to people from my past—an angel named N who'd tried to point me toward faith years before, and her friend Angel P. They didn't judge my decades of resistance. They just guided me.

Through a series of events I now know were far from random, I found the Serbian Orthodox Church. The moment I crossed that threshold with Angel P by my side, I knew: I was home.

I entered the catechumenate and was baptized in the river. In that water, I was reborn. For the first time in my life, I felt genuine belonging. I felt the presence of something far greater than myself.

But my baptism wasn't the end. It was the beginning of the real war.

The Spiritual Warfare Began

I was warned that baptism is a declaration of war—that the devil fights hardest to reclaim what he has lost.

They weren't exaggerating.

Months after my baptism, the counter-attack began. The spiritual warfare intensified. I found myself in a daily battle for my soul. The demons I thought I'd left behind came with renewed fury. Old passions, old lies, old shame—they all came back swinging.

But this time, I had something I'd never had before: the weapons of the Orthodox Church. I had Scripture, prayer, the Eucharist, and the witness of 2,000 years of men who'd fought these same battles before me.

I immersed myself in the writings of the Church fathers. I learned the tactics of spiritual combat. I understood that what I was experiencing wasn't a sign of failure—it was the evidence that I was fighting on the right side.

I began to see the pattern: spiritual warfare isn't about perfection or willpower. It's about daily obedience, tactical prayer, radical honesty, and the willingness to fight one more day.

That's when I realized something: most Christian men I knew had no idea how to actually fight this war. They had information. They had motivation. But they didn't have a field manual.

So I wrote one. For myself first. And then for every man tired of losing the war within.

Why I'm Qualified to Write This

I'm not a priest. I'm not a theologian with a PhD. I'm a man who lived 40+ years without God, who lost everything, who found the Orthodox Church, and who has been in the daily fight for his soul ever since.

I've spent my entire life learning how to be disciplined—through weight training, professional athletics, and building a business. I know what it takes to show up every day and do the work, even when you don't feel like it.

But I've also learned—painfully—that discipline alone isn't enough. That willpower fails. That you can't think your way out of spiritual warfare.

What I offer isn't theory. It's the field manual I wish I'd had when the battles started. It's rooted in 2,000 years of Orthodox Christian wisdom about how men actually fight spiritual warfare. It's tactical, practical, and grounded in Scripture.

What I'm Doing Now

I divide my work between two callings:

Physical health: Through Heroic Health Quest, I help busy men over 40 reclaim their bodies and build sustainable health habits. The work is rooted in the same principle: you change your identity first, and then your habits follow naturally.

Spiritual health: Through Forty Day Practice, I help Christian men win the war within their souls. Each 40-day practice is designed to help you fight one specific battle—and win.

Both come from the same conviction: Men need to become whole. Not just physically fit or spiritually informed, but actually integrated—strong in body, strong in spirit, and clear about who they are and what they're fighting for.

What You Should Know

I'm not perfect. I still struggle. I still lose battles. The difference is, I know how to fight now. And I know how to get back up.

I believe in you. Not because you deserve it or because you've earned it. But because God believes in you, and He paid the ultimate price to reclaim you. I'm just offering you the tactical manual for living out that redemption.

This is serious work. Forty days isn't long, but it's real. It requires brutal honesty, daily commitment, and the willingness to be transformed. If you're looking for inspiration without action, this isn't for you. But if you're tired of losing and ready to actually fight, then we're on the same team.

The battle continues. Even after you finish a 40-day practice, the war for your soul doesn't end. These practices aren't about achieving perfection. They're about building the foundation for a lifelong spiritual discipline that actually holds.

Let's Fight Together

I created Battling Demons because I needed it to survive. I'm sharing it with you because I believe you need it too.

The war inside is real. The victory is possible. And you don't have to fight it alone.