Articles By: The Merry Monk

Erik Guzman is The Merry Monk of Love...a whiskey mystic, a silly son of God, a sword saint and a divine DJ. Visit TheMerryMonk.com for some messy monkery. Erik is also Executive Producer at Key Life Network. He can be heard on the nationally syndicated talk show Steve Brown Etc. and as announcer for Key Life. He has a wife, three children, a BA in Mass Communication and an MBA. He's also a drummer, 3rd degree black belt in Aikido, and Master of Theology student at Reformed Theological Seminary.

Picayunes

“Paper or plastic?” The question barely registers. I look down at my nuts in a vice grip, and then back up at the pimply teen. “Plastic.” I pay and wait for the last few bags to be loaded into the cart. My balls are killing me. “Would you like help with that sir?” God...

February 4th, 2012 | Fiction | Read More

Root & Fruit

I recently started a garden. I’ve been growing tomatoes, peppers, green beans and squash. Well, I’ve been trying to grow those things. I thought I should probably have some idea how to produce my own food just in case the manure continues to hit the fan here in the good ol’ U....

October 23rd, 2011 | Essays, Featured, Meditations | Read More

I Love Them Whores

“I love them whores, they never judge you. What can you say when you’re a whore?” - Jane’s Addiction I’ve been thinking about whores, church and Jesus lately (not necessarily in that order). There’s a story in the Bible about a prostitute who just had to get some time...

September 7th, 2011 | Essays, Featured | Read More

The Desert of Doubt

“The song I was writing is left undone. I don’t know why I spend my time writing songs I can’t believe, with words that tear and strain to rhyme. And so you see I have come to doubt all that I once held as true. I stand alone without beliefs. The only truth I know is you. And as I watch the...

May 8th, 2011 | Featured, Meditations | Read More

Merry Monk Madness

“Don’t make such a spectacle of yourself.” “Tone it down.” “You should be on the radio so I can turn you off.” I’ve been hearing these kinds of statements all my life. They usually just serve to egg me on. Even so, there are times when I look back on things I’ve blurted out or done...

March 23rd, 2011 | Featured, Social Justice | Read More

Love Hurts

My love of drinking is no secret to anyone who knows me. The taste, the laughter among friends, the lack of self-consciousness…each are parts of a whole that have had me smitten since the first few clandestine beers out in the woods with my mates. When I got older, I found scotch. Oh, baby. I remember...

February 11th, 2011 | Culture, Featured, Food and Drink | Read More

Home

I’m a wanderer at heart. It’s in my blood. I’m not childlike enough to delight in monotony. Give me new experiences, new environments, new relationships! I come alive on the road. I’m prone to wander from God too, but he keeps following me wherever I go. Most of the time,...

December 13th, 2010 | Featured, Meditations | Read More

Stupid Things

I’ve done some stupid things in my short time on the planet. At the risk of incriminating myself, I’ll give you some examples. Back in high school, on more than one occasion, I would grab a friend, get high, grab a couple bottles of Boone’s Farm and go driving around drinking. That’s bad enough,...

September 14th, 2010 | Essays, Featured | Read More

May God Bless the Hell Out of You

God is not fair. He gleefully flaunts it too. He shoves it in our faces. Jesus’ version of reality is devoid of common sense. The Kingdom of God might as well be called, “Crazy Upside-down Jesus World.” Here’s an example: Say I need some landscaping done at my house. So I go to the...

August 29th, 2010 | Featured, Meditations | Read More

The Whiskey Mystic

First the man drinks the drink, then the drink drinks the drink, then the drink drinks the man. – Japanese proverb Love for my baby girl sent me into the woods. Soul searching. It had been almost a year since I stood in a hospital room and cradled pure beauty wrapped in soft blankets. I’d never...

July 23rd, 2010 | Fiction, Fiction & Poetry | Read More