It was 2015, Craven Correctional in North Carolina. I was at the bottom. I saw a flyer for On Wings Like a Dove on the wall, and another inmate showed me he’d gotten a real, nice Bible — and that I could have one too. I needed something. Anything. So I scraped together what stamps I could find and sent off for it.

I still have that Bible to this day.

Let me back up, so you’ll understand the man that Bible found.

My dad was a faithful Catholic, and when he died — I was just 13 — I got sad and I got resentful. Honestly, I was running from God like Jonah, and the whale was already swimming my way. I turned to alcohol and drugs to numb it. My first real trouble was a $250,000 bond over marijuana. My mama had to put the beach house up on a lien to deal with what I’d become.

When that Bible finally came, it came through the bean hole — that little food slot in the cell door. I remember telling God, I’m not even going to ask You for it. But there it was. I opened it up and it fell open to Psalm 98. Now, I didn’t even know there had been a King David in the Bible — and my name is David. I just kind of went, ”…hello?” And it talked about the Lord’s right hand getting Him the victory. Something in me whispered, maybe this is real.

So I started living on faith — straight faith, no money down. A bail bondsman named Tommy Golden got me out on nothing but my signature. I didn’t have a dime. Just faith.

But I wasn’t fixed yet. Drugs and alcohol drove me all the way to Mexico, running from the law. AA calls that a “geographical cure.” It doesn’t work. Wherever I went, I took me with me.

It finally caught up. I overdosed on heroin and it very nearly cost me my life. Six days in a coma. My ex-wife sat by that bed reading the Bible out loud over me — Ezekiel 37, “breathe into these dry bones.” On the third day, my toe twitched. That Friday was Good Friday, and I woke up. I came out of that coma on the very weekend the whole world remembers the empty tomb. You can’t tell me God isn’t real.

He still had some shaping to do. The vision for Faith and Fitness was actually born in Tabor City — “The Rock” — another NC prison. Within 90 days of getting there I caught an infraction. On hot dog day, I double-swiped for an extra one. Stealing, plain and simple. It cost me a $10 write-up and a wardrobe change — green clothes to brown, a bump up to max custody. But you know what? God knew exactly where He needed me to be. Romans 8:28 — He works it all together for good.

Three years after that little Bible came through the bean hole, I was ordained. The head pastor at Hillside Baptist Church laid hands on me through One Promise Ministry, a street-outreach and addiction ministry.

Today I have a life I couldn’t have imagined down in that cell. By God’s grace I own homes and investments, I run real businesses — Faith and Fitness, a scooter rental company, and as of this very week, Hahn Technologies Corporation. I make my amends. I hire people. And I get to pass it forward: just yesterday I bailed a man out of jail and put him on contract for a transition house, so he’d get the same accountability that saved my life.

My house caught fire once. When it was over, that Bible came out white as snow (Isaiah 1:18) — like the Lord was reminding me what He does with a scarlet sinner.

I’ve been to Open Door Ministry seven times. Alpha and Omega House twice. Detox more times than I can count. Jail too many to number. And today I have a brand-new life.

So here’s what I’d say to any prodigal, prisoner, or loved one reading this:

Deposit the Word of God in your heart now, so you can withdraw on it later (Psalm 119:11). Say no to your flesh and your own will. When you don’t know what to do, ask Him for wisdom — He gives to all freely (James 1:5). Get a sponsor. Get an older, wiser mentor. And don’t quit before the miracle.

To everyone at On Wings Like a Dove — thank you for putting that flyer on that wall, and that Bible through that slot. You changed my life through the living Word of God, and now I get to help change others.

Come fish for men with me. Jesus said follow Him, and He’ll make us fishers of men (Matthew 4:19) — and the net is fuller than I ever dreamed.

He enlarged my territory, just like Jabez prayed. He can enlarge yours too.

Soli Deo Gloria

— David

I want to let you in on something I’m building. Not because it’s finished — it isn’t — but because the best things get built in the open, with people who care enough to walk the road with you.

It’s called Methuselah. And the “why” behind it reaches a lot further than a stock chart.

What Methuselah is

Methuselah is a market-analysis engine. I’m using it to scan wide and hard across stocks, options, precious metals, and crypto — looking for signal in the noise. Options are where my focus is right now.

Here’s the honest part: today I run it hands-on. I read what the system surfaces and I place my trades manually, on my phone, through Robinhood Gold. It’s a one-man cockpit for now. The roadmap is to move it onto Alpaca over the next year so the engine can execute automatically instead of me tapping a screen. I’m building in public, one disciplined step at a time.

I’m not promising anyone riches. Markets carry real risk and real losses. What I’m promising is honesty about the journey and a front-row seat to what I learn.

The brain behind the math

I’m not doing the heavy science alone. The mathematical engine draws on the work of my brother, Dr. William Edward Hahn — and his credentials are the real deal.

William is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Florida Atlantic University. He earned his Ph.D. at FAU in 2016 for his work in Sparse Coding and Compressed Sensing, after a B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from Guilford College and graduate study in math and computer science at UNC Greensboro. He’s the founder and co-director of FAU’s Machine Perception and Cognitive Robotics (MPCR) Laboratory, co-director of the FAU AI Sandbox, and has led work at the Center for Complex Systems. His research runs through neural networks, deep learning, medical imaging, and computational neuroscience — and he was one of the minds behind FAU’s one-of-a-kind robotic dog, Astro.

That’s the kind of mathematics most trading apps never touch. Compressed sensing — pulling a clean signal out of sparse, noisy data — is exactly the problem markets hand you every single day.

The philosophy: make money work so people don’t have to

I came up in retail, ran GNC stores at the district and regional level, and learned the hard way that trading hours for dollars has a ceiling. The books that rewired my thinking — Rich Dad Poor Dad, Grant Cardone’s 10X — all point at the same truth: money is a tool, and tools are meant to work.

Assets that produce cash flow. Income that’s tax-aware instead of tax-blind. Capital that compounds while you sleep. Learning to play the real-life version of Monopoly — where you own things that pay you. None of that is a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s financial literacy, stewardship, and patience. I want to teach what I’m learning as I learn it, in plain English, so it’s not locked behind a wall of jargon.

If you’ve ever wanted to actually understand options, stocks, and how AI is changing the game — that’s a big part of what this Substack will be.

Hahn Technologies Corporation — the engine room

Methuselah lives inside a real, established company. Hahn Technologies Corporation is incorporated with its EIN in place, and it’s open for business right now.

What we do:

• Consultations — strategy for business owners who want to work smarter, not just harder.

• Applications & websites — custom software, sites, and tools built to make your business faster, leaner, and more profitable.

• AI integration — putting the same kind of thinking behind Methuselah to work streamlining real operations.

If your business needs to run better, that’s a conversation I’d love to have. This is the part that’s available to you today — no waiting on a roadmap.

The real reason any of this matters

Here’s where my heart is, and I won’t dress it up.

There are children in Pakistan I can’t stop thinking about — kids in an orphanage, kids caught in brick-factory labor that no child should ever know. My dream is simple and stubborn: an air-conditioned building, with laptops, where those kids can be safe, learn, and have a future. Education and dignity, in Jesus’ name.

That’s what the money is for. Wealth isn’t the destination — it’s the means. I want to build something that throws off enough to do real good, and to bring along people who feel that same pull.

Like the prayer of Jabez: “Oh, that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory…” — not so I can sit on it, but so the blessing flows downhill to the people who need it most.

How we can help each other

If any of this stirs something in you, here’s how to walk with me:

1. Follow this Substack and learn alongside me — markets, options, AI, stewardship, and the mission.

2. Reach out about Hahn Technologies if your business could use consulting, an app, a website, or AI tools. That’s real work we can do together today.

3. If you’re a serious partner or builder who wants to help shape what Methuselah becomes, get in touch directly — I’d welcome the right people at the table.

I’m building this in the light, with my brother’s science, my faith, and whoever God sends to build alongside me. Come see where it goes.

In Jesus’ name. Soli Deo Gloria.

— David Hahn, Hahn Technologies Corporation

Disclaimer: This post is for education and information only. Nothing here is financial, investment, tax, or legal advice, a recommendation to buy or sell any security or asset, or an offer to sell or a solicitation of any investment. Trading stocks, options, crypto, and precious metals involves substantial risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. Past or hypothetical performance does not guarantee future results. Always consult a licensed financial professional before making investment decisions.

A leaf with a long memory

Kratom — Mitragyna speciosa — is not new, and it is not exotic. It’s a tropical leaf that farmers, fishermen, and laborers across Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia have chewed fresh or brewed into tea for generations to get through long days of hard physical work. Written records of its use reach back to at least the 19th century, and the oral tradition runs far deeper. For millions of people across those islands, it has simply been part of ordinary rural life — passed down like any other thread of a culture.

That history matters. When something has been used by ordinary people for that long, the burden of proof sits on those who suddenly want to call it deadly.

What the death data actually says

Here is where the scare headlines come apart. When government scientists actually count, the picture is sober and clear.

• The CDC examined 27,338 overdose deaths across 27 states (July 2016–December 2017). Kratom showed up on toxicology in 152 of them — about half of one percent. It was ruled a cause of death in 91. And in only seven was kratom the sole substance detected — and even for those seven, the CDC wrote plainly that “the presence of additional substances cannot be ruled out.” Seven, out of more than twenty-seven thousand.

• About 80% of the kratom-positive deaths involved people with a documented history of substance misuse, and fentanyl and fentanyl analogs were the most common substances found alongside kratom.

• The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the NIH, concluded that most kratom-attributed deaths appear to involve adulterated products or kratom taken alongside other potent substances. In plain English: the fentanyl, the other drugs, or the contamination — not the leaf by itself.

• A peer-reviewed analysis in Preventive Medicine estimated that the risk of fatal overdose is more than a thousand times greater for classic opioids than for kratom’s primary compound, mitragynine.

No honest reading of that record supports treating natural kratom leaf like a deadly narcotic. The danger in the real cases came from adulteration and mixing — exactly the problem that regulation solves and prohibition makes worse.

The distinction that changes everything

There’s a real safety conversation to be had — but it’s about the right target. In recent years, some manufacturers began isolating and concentrating 7-OH (7-hydroxymitragynine) into products far stronger than anything found in a natural leaf, where it exists only in trace amounts.

And here’s the part almost nobody hears: the federal government agrees with the distinction. In July 2025, the FDA recommended restricting concentrated, synthetic 7-OH — and stated plainly that it was not targeting natural kratom leaf, noting these concentrated products shouldn’t even be sold as kratom. Years earlier, in 2018, a top federal health official at HHS (Dr. Brett Giroir) withdrew an earlier push to ban kratom outright, citing weak evidence and the danger of driving people toward worse alternatives.

The science points to a scalpel, not a sledgehammer: restrict the concentrated synthetic, regulate the natural leaf.

Honesty cuts both ways

I run a business in this space, so let me be the one to say it plainly: nothing is risk-free, and natural leaf is not candy. It is for adults. It should never be given to minors, never mixed with other drugs or alcohol, and only bought as a lab-tested, clearly labeled product from a source that stands behind it.

That honesty is the argument. You don’t protect people by banning a regulated, tested option and handing the market to whoever is willing to break the law. You protect people with 21-and-up limits, mandatory third-party testing, honest labeling, and going hard after the concentrated synthetics. Truth holds up under scrutiny. Hype doesn’t. Prohibition doesn’t.

The faith lens

I look at this through Scripture, and I don’t think that’s separate from the science — I think it’s the foundation under it.

“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed… to you it shall be for meat.” — Genesis 1:29

“He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man.” — Psalm 104:14

God filled the earth with plants for the service of man. But the same Bible that gives us that gift also gives us the wisdom to use it rightly:

“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient.” — 1 Corinthians 6:12

“For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.” — 1 Timothy 4:4

That is exactly the posture of good regulation: received with thanksgiving, used with temperance, kept from the hands of children, and handled honestly before God and neighbor. Not banned in fear. Not abused in excess. Stewarded.

The ask — and it still matters

Here’s where things stand in North Carolina. In 2025, House Bill 328 was rewritten in the Senate to add kratom to the state’s controlled-substances list — a de facto ban. In April 2026, the state House refused to go along with that version, and the bill died. Kratom remains legal and unscheduled in NC today.

That’s a win. But it’s a pause, not a finish line: lawmakers and industry watchers alike expect a replacement bill in a future session. The time to be heard is now — before the next version is written, not after.

So if you’re a North Carolinian who believes in regulate, don’t ban, tell your legislators four words: support a 21+ age limit, third-party testing, and honest labeling — and aim any ban at synthetic 7-OH, not the natural leaf.

I’ve built a free, fill-in-the-blank action sheet with the relevant contacts and a sample script. Reply or message me “GUIDE” and I’ll send it. Then share this with one North Carolinian who believes in common sense over prohibition.

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:21

— David Hahn

Koala Tea Kratom · Faith & Fitness Enterprises · New Bern, NC

Soli Deo Gloria.

Sources

• CDC, Notes from the Field: Unintentional Drug Overdose Deaths with Kratom Detected — 27 States, July 2016–December 2017, MMWR 2019;68(14):326–327. cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6814a2.htm

• National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA/NIH), Kratom research topic. nida.nih.gov/research-topics/kratom

• Henningfield JE, et al., Risk of death associated with kratom use compared to opioids, Preventive Medicine 2019;128:105851.

• FDA, FDA Takes Steps to Restrict 7-OH Opioid Products (July 29, 2025). fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements

• HHS 2018 withdrawal of the kratom scheduling recommendation (Dr. Brett Giroir); see Kratom Abuse Potential 2021: An Updated Eight Factor Analysis, Frontiers in Pharmacology (2021/2022).

• NC General Assembly, House Bill 328 (2025–2026 session) legislative history. ncleg.gov

This piece is policy, science, and faith commentary — not medical advice, and it makes no personal health claim about any product.