So earlier today I was reading an article about how the number of people thinking of leaving the Catholic Church is up 30% because of the abuse scandals that are finally coming to light. Although I understand the frustration, I can’t agree with that thought process. Just for the sake of knowledge I am Roman Catholic, and leaving is absolutely not an option. There are a few things people need to understand:

1-ANYONE involved in any of these acts, regardless of the level, once proven guilty in a court of law…not a court of public opinion….needs to be persecuted to the fullest extent of the law. From the Pope on down, there has to be accountability. And…

2-The Church is not a building. It’s not an institution. The Church is a thought process and a way of life. We are the Church, and anyone involved in atrocities like this are NOT the Church.

But it doesn’t end there.

As Christians we were entrusted with a very simple, yet nearly impossible set of rules. All of which are based on love. Not love of money, power, or anything material, it’s love for each other. Now let me ask you, how many people who claim to be followers of Christ do we see committing or endorsing acts like bias…of any kind, murder…regardless of stage of life or criminal act, theft…of object or trust. It’s embarrassing how many isn’t it? It’s people like this who drag us all down because we are immediately lumped in with them. Now I don’t know if it’s frustration from the lack of response from hierarchy or fear of persecution from association that are making people want to leave, but the way I see it, all leaving does is empower the devil. It’s up to US to restore the Church. By running from, or ignoring evil only makes it easier for it to happen until the point that some evil acts will be seen as acceptable.

Not on my watch.

It’s more than just loving Christ, we have to act on our faith. A phrase I’ve come to using at the end of my correspondence is reminding everyone to live the faith. Belief isn’t enough, even the devil believes in God.

Live the faith.

Not long ago I was having a conversation with several people on this topic. The group was made up people of different faiths and what I’ll call it devoutness, all of whom felt the need to square off against me. I will absolutely always defend my faith, which always makes me think of something my son said to me once. In short he told me that he thinks it’s awesome that I’m always willing to stand up for Christ because in his words “People need to know that Jesus still got shooters”. Not gonna lie, it felt pretty great and sad to hear him say that. Great that he recognizes my faith and sad that he too often doesn’t see it in others. It’s up to us to make the change and fix the problems. Remember to live the faith, God bless

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.

-Mathew 14:25

Mathew 14:22-33 has always held a special place for me. As a man of faith who is absolutely fallible, I identify with Peter. Having such fierce faith to be willing to go against all my instincts at an instant, yet still weak enough to let fear still work its way in. But as a surfer, I’m absolutely drawn to Jesus as He walks on the waves. And as I am “walking” or more accurately gliding across the water I don’t know if it’s the religious decals on my board or a prayer in the lineup, I’m able to spark conversations with those around me. Either way I’ve come to view the water as a physical depiction of my faith. Its both calming and raging. Seemingly infinite. Powerful. Full of life. And like the salt that’s in it compared to the salt in our bodies, literally part of me. Accordingly, some of my deepest moments of prayer and self reflection take place when I’m on the water, as such, there are times when I just need to be out there. Last Wednesday was one of those moments. Unfortunately living in the northeast, this time of year isn’t always conducive for this.

Didn’t matter.

Winter storm expected later in the day. Have to go.

So, I put on my wetsuit, threw a pair of shorts and T-shirt over it so I didn’t look like a kook as I walked the two blocks, grabbed my paddle board and headed to the water. As a trudged along all I could think of how rough the water was going to be based on how windy it was becoming, but like I said it was something I had to do. I needed it. Amazingly as started my paddle down the canal to get out to the bay the wind died down and the water was like glass. Cold. But smooth as glass. For the next couple of miles as I glided along I was able to pray and contemplate. The only interruption was when stopped to take pictures. It was awesome. There are few words to express the way I feel spiritually after spending time on the water. The closest way to describe it is I feel like I’ve been in the presence of God. Days later, as I sit and reflect I still feel it and the only word that comes to mind is awesome. Thanks for listening, and remember to live your faith. God bless.

Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

-Philippians 2:4

So yesterday I talked about how after some self reflection I decided I need to LIVE my faith, and whenever an opportunity presented itself to be willing to speak. Low and behold today two people reached out to me because of things I had said to them in the past. The first was a young woman who a couple of years ago was a member of the Youth Group I was one of the leaders in. Although she’s been out of the program for two years now and lives in another state, she messaged me looking for some advice and guidance after having just recently moved to a new town she felt lost. After a few jokes and some scripture and she was feeling much better! The second person was a friend who I had had a conversation with a few weeks back about how I feel that God is always trying to talk to us. To guide us. Flash forward to today and she reached out to tell me how she’s been struggling with a lot of chaos in her life lately and in the midst of it all she “heard” me telling her to listen for God’s message and to keep her eyes on Him. It may have been my voice, but it’s His message. His message.

It’s awesome the joy I feel from being able to teach people the word. Remember to live your faith. God bless

Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

-James 1:20

I’m angry. I am absolutely an angry person at this moment. But I can’t be. I know how we are all supposed to be. Unfortunately the situations we want aren’t always the situation we have, for example, as I’m writing this I am driving to my parents house on a Sunday evening to go carry my father into the house. He’s not hurt or disabled, truthfully the only thing wrong with him is that he’s an alcoholic. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely know we all have our own demons. Let’s face it there isn’t anyone who isn’t themselves fighting,or know someone who’s fighting, something. Whether it’s a sin of action, attitude, neglect, or intent, the devil doesn’t need a large chink in the armor to get in. For me today…it’s anger. Angry at the fact that I had to hear my mother crying on the phone from a combination of frustration from once again having to deal with him like this, and from the embarrassment of having to call one of her sons to deal with this…again.

So a few days have past since I started writing this. As I read what I wrote I’m happy that even at that moment I had the clarity to know,and say, how being angry wasn’t the right way to be. You see being angry is easy. Letting any of our emotions get the best of us is easy. Living the life we’re supposed to…that we need to…not so easy, but that doesn’t make it any less necessary. Any less important. A while back I spoke about not giving the devil a foothold…sometimes I really need to take my own advice because sin…any sin…is an opportunity the devil will never pass up to try and work his way in. And I’m better than that, we ALL are better than that. Which brings me to today. Over the last few days I’ve been praying a lot on my life. Where I am, where I’m going, where I want to be, and especially who I want to be. I found that I’m moving more sideways than forward. I know what, where, and who I want to be, but I’m my own worst enemy. My nature is always try to keep the peace. If there’s any type of conflict or trouble I will always look to find a way to settle things down, sometimes to my own detriment. As someone who wears their heart on their sleeve, at times, I find I am at odds with myself. Doing what you feel is right and what needs to be done aren’t always the same thing. Accordingly I get to a point where I feel myself loosing both control and focus. Maybe that’s my “demon”, because it’s at those moments, amid all the chaos in my life that my faith centers me. But there are days, like the other day, when it’s a fight to keep my eye on God and not the events unfolding around me. Like I said it’s real easy to let emotion dictate my actions, there are times when we need to, but there is a difference between letting our emotions control us or letting them guide us. Christ, who we strive to emulate, wept, got angry, and above all loved. And it was through love that He was able to feel and act on those emotions. Everything He did when He was here was done out of love for us and as impossible as it seems we have to be doing the same. Another human difficulty we have sometimes is admitting that we have to change. Finding error within ourselves isn’t always the easiest thing to admit. So as I’m writing this, I look over my shoulder and see this spray painted on the building across from where I am…

Bam. Once again God drops the mic. It never ceases to amaze me how often He talks to us. Although at times it’s as subtle as a whisper, in this situation it was literally the side of a building. I have been told I’m a bit thick headed so I guess He was done whispering! So in the end,after taking God’s advice and taking a better “look at myself“ …again, I decided that I need to live my faith. As much as I thought I was, it’s not enough. Like this blog, for example, I started this with the intention of talking every day. Never realizing how difficult it was going to be, especially the actual writing aspect. I mean I can talk all day, and even though I write as if I was speaking, it’s not the same. Then add in my impatience on gaining readers, and just like that, there was a chink in my armor. And as far as speaking is concerned, I need to do it more. Anyone who knows me, knows what a huge part of my life my faith is. But there are times when something inside of me tells me to speak to someone or say something and I don’t because it doesn’t make sense to me at that moment. I’ve let my fear of looking odd get in the way of doing what I know is right. In the way of Gods will. Well no more. It’s time to truly trust in God’s plan. So I will write something everyday, and I will evangelize when I’m inspired to. Because the fact is my faith gets stronger and the love and joy in my heart grows the more I do. And if I’m given the choice of which emotion to guide me, I will always choose love and joy. I hope you’ll do the same. God bless.

So lately I’ve had what we’ll call a poor attitude when it comes to my job.  It’s not the work that I mind, I mean I truly do love working with my hands, and truthfully there’s a sense of pride I get from knowing that not only am I providing a necessity for people, but that there aren’t many people who can do what I do.  Although I tell people that I’m going to live to be over a hundred the places I work present both short and long term potential health risks, additionally working in the city has definitely calloused me a bit. Which brings me to an encounter I had a few weeks back.

     I am around homeless people daily.  Now there are some who are just everyday people like you and me who’ve unfortunately fallen on rough times, a large number are either addicts or scam artists. Both of which cause the callouses around my heart to thicken.  The location I was working at that day was across the street from a hospital that handles a large number of addicts. As I’m getting ready to go down the hole, over my shoulder I hear, ”can I get some gloves?”  It was a cold morning, so without even picking my head up a took off the fresh gloves that I had literally just put on and tossed them to the guy and walked back to the truck to get another pair.  As I turn to head back to the manhole, for the first time I see the man I had already judged and dismissed.  An older guy, disheveled, and on crutches struggling to put the gloves on.  Taking a few steps closer I can see the hospital bracelet still on him and that his skin was reddish/pink.  In what was probably less than a second I have a conversation with myself about how much of a terrible person I am.  “Hey”, I yell over, “I got you”.  Even though I can smell the alcohol on him I can’t help but feel nothing but heartbreak for him.  When I took the gloves from him I saw why he was having such an impossible time.  His hands were swollen to the point that his skin was shiny and cracking, and his fingers were “stuck” curled.  I dropped my hard hat and tools and spent the next 10 minutes getting the gloves on him.   But the saddest part was that for the first few minutes of me maneuvering the gloves around his bent hands and talking to him he wouldn’t look at me.  He just kept his head down.  Not knowing if he was in pain from me trying to get his fingers into the gloves I asked if he was OK.  He sheepishly picked his head up, still keeping his eyes to the ground. Again I asked if he was OK.  When he finally looked up his eyes got wide, like no one has actually took the time to acknowledge or even make eye contact with him in a long time.  In an almost whisper he said, “ thank you I’m ok”.

I could literally feel myself becoming less callous   

     All the while, people are walking around us not even giving either of us a second look.  Instead of getting mad about it, I actually felt sorry for them.  When you become so absorbed or hardened to the world around you that you can’t see what’s happening right in front of you that’s not living.  

And the callouses got even thinner

     In Mathew 25:40 Christ told us:

      “…Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

     Sometimes I read about acts of other people.  Whether it’s missionaries or the Apostles, and think I wish I could do that or be that brave.  The reality is at that moment I did and I was.

 

     Whether you believe it or not, for me, it was an encounter with Christ. I mean I physically felt better after doing something so trivial as helping the guy and talking to him for a few minutes.  To the point that it made me WANT to do more.  It made me want to tell you  about it in the hope that you’ll want to too.  

  

      It’s amazing how an act so simple can bring someone joy. God Bless 

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

-John 1:5

The last few days two pieces of scripture have been lingering on my mind and I think it’s because they’re both brilliantly obvious, and yet sometimes seemingly impossible.  First is:

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

-Philippians 4:6-7

The problem here, I believe, is that we sometimes forget the power of God….Let me clarify that….

Immaculate conception…yep

Water to wine…no problem

Walks on water…absolutely

Dies on cross comes back three days later…child’s play

I’m going through a personal crisis(fill in whatever you’d like)…no way God can/would help me with this

When you stand back and really think about it, it’s almost insulting NOT to look to God for help.  Let’s face it, I just could have gone old school (Testament) with things like creation or parting off sea’s to show God’s power but everything that Christ did wasn’t about showing how great He is, it was about showing how much He loves us. Our problem is that we sometimes forget to “walk by faith,not by sight” and we end up viewing God in our own image instead of us in His. We have to remember that there isn’t anything that we can say or do that God doesn’t already know, and that He will always forgive us.  His love is that great.  The other piece of scripture is:

26 “In your anger do not sin” Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.

-Ephesians 4:26-27

Boom. I mean that last line…. “do not give the devil a foothold”. That is powerful.  Powerful, because we do. Think about it.  It really doesn’t take much for life to start getting out of hand, and instead of praying on it we get mad.  We lose focus.  Instead of hands folded in prayer, they’re pointed in anger and blame.  Our eyes no longer fixed on Him, are obsessed on the world around us.  It doesn’t take long for our hearts and minds to be filled with words like anger, rage, jealousy, hurt, suspicion, and revenge.  All from simply giving the devil a foothold.  And depending on what you’re going through it can take a few days or a single moment for it to happen.  But it’s at those moments.  In those dark times, that we have to look to Him.  We have to remember who we’re supposed to be, and who is on our side.  Always on our side.  His love is greater than our hurt.  I’ve spent the last few years scratching John 1:5 in the underground structures I work in.  I do it trying to both, be clever because the work I do literally keeps the lights on, and also I hope anyone who sees it will look it up and maybe decide to read some more.  So as I was leaving my mark today I suddenly saw the connection.  No darkness can overcome the light we all have inside of us.  The only thing that keeps words like love, peace, patience, hope, trust, and joy from our hearts and mind is ourselves.

Always seek joy, God bless

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

-1 Corinthians 12:1-3

I’ve been thinking a lot about perspective these last couple of days. Yesterday especially. We all had woken up to an arctic like environment that, although we knew was coming, seemingly took everyone by surprise. Under normal circumstances I would have spent the day outside…..working, but instead today I was inside. Great right? Wrong. I was sitting in a hospital waiting room for nearly 14 hours while a family member was being operated on.

Perspective.

Given the choice, I’d sooner work in any condition than have someone I care for being operated on…..no offense to the hospital staff, they in fact did an excellent job! But I digress.

Let me take it a step further.

While sitting in that waiting room I was surrounded by strangers, each going through different situations. A mix of somber faces and elated looks. Early on things were pretty tense for us, and by the looks on the faces of several of the other families we were not alone. As I stared out the window, half noticing a maintenance worker cleaning something in the midst of an icy gale, I saw a man smiling as he wrestled an “It’s a girl!” balloon into a car. I couldn’t help but smile, getting the chance to see the hospital from his point of view. A short time later it was our time to smile as we heard from the surgeon that although they had some issues everything was good. The waiting room looked completely different to us than it had just a short time earlier. Meanwhile not twenty feet away by the sound of the sobbing someone got different news. Same room, same weather, looks completely different.

Perspective.

So that brings me to this morning. Around 4:30 this morning Kerri is driving me to the train station and “Livin on the edge” by Aerosmith comes on…..I just want to say I absolutely love when I hear God’s message in unlikely places…

“There’s somethin’ wrong with the world today

I don’t know what it is

Something’s wrong with our eyes

We’re seein’ things in a different way

And God knows it ain’t his

It sure ain’t no surprise”

Alright God I hear you…I guess I’m not done talking about this. I mean a couple of days ago I was talking about judging others without knowing what they were going through, but this is different. This is deeper. As I sit here thinking of everything that’s going on, not only in the world but within my own life as well, it kills me. What is happening? Sitting in that room yesterday it didn’t matter who you were….or what your perspective was….unlike what was going on outside those walls, people actually cared about the person next to them. Cared about what they were going through. Good or bad it mattered. And even though we saw that room from different view points, from different mindsets, we all cared. To me it seems like we having a love issue in our everyday lives. Have we become so self absorbed or blinded by superficial thoughts that we just refuse to see from any viewpoint or thought process other than our own? Sadly the answer is yes. Now before you say “we’ll not me” I want you to think about it…..Really think about it…..Maybe think a little more. I’m not saying it happens all the time, but that’s not how this works. Christ was pretty clear about this. In 1 Corinthians 13:13 he said “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” The GREATEST of these is love. Now I know what you’re thinking, it’s not that easy. I agree, but no one ever said anything about easy. Maybe now you’re thinking that I don’t understand what you’re dealing with or going through, and that’s absolutely true. But what I do know is that on Jesus’s last two days on earth alone he was betrayed by someone he considered a friend, denied by the man he saw his brother, beaten, mocked, tortured, and crucified…. and all he felt for them was love. Love and forgiveness. He still saw things from their perspective and with love in his heart.

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

-Luke 23:34

We forget sometimes,I think, that we are supposed to live in His image not the other way around. I’m not perfect. We’re not perfect. We are all works in progress, but we can’t think that if I “give love here I don’t have to give love there”. Steven Tyler is right, something is wrong and we definitely not seeing things God’s way. Well I don’t know about you but I’m tired of being a “clanging cymbal” I’m done with having and gaining “nothing”. The change has to start with each of us…today.

I pray you all find joy in all you do, all you see, and all you share. God bless.

“You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.”

-Romans 14:10

As I was driving today I see this guy walking in the rain with his umbrella bent up. I started to laugh at both the fact that the umbrella was bent up, but also the fact that he appeared to just have completely given up caring. Then I thought to myself what is this guy going through to make him just concede like that. We all sometimes judge those around us based on our own assumptions about what’s going on in their lives. We sometimes, sadly, can even find humor in it without “walking a mile in their shoes”. As someone who believes that God tries to talk/teach us something everyday, I’ll take this as an “aha” moment. Lesson learned.

Remember to always find joy in your life. God bless

“Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”-1 Timothy 5:8

One of the greatest things about the Bible is that it’s alive. The living word. You can literally read something and it hits you one way and then the next day your perspective changes and suddenly the meaning gets deeper. Which brings me to last night. Out of nowhere my son got violently ill and even though he is 21 years old and in the Air Force, I spent the night watching over him. The reality is no matter how old I get as long as I have the strength in my body I will always provide and protect my family. As I stood in my sons doorway, in the middle of the night, making sure he was ok I thought to myself how we are created in God’s image. And just how the love I have for my family supersedes all else, that is exactly how God feels for us, only on an infinite level.

I am a work in progress. We all are. And at times it can be overwhelming trying to live like Christ, especially when our nature makes us over think things. What I realized, once again standing in that doorway, is that to truly follow Jesus all we have to do is let love guide us.

Remember to always seek joy. God bless