Stick To Your Guns

While I’m uncomfortable in groups of more than one, I forced myself to attend the EWMBC (early Wednesday morning breakfast club) where the topic of discussion was “paying the price”.   Sticking to your beliefs…even when it is not politically correct, not in fashion and not in step with the rest of the world.  It made me think of yesterday’s readings (2 Maccabees 6:18-31) when Eleazar would not eat the pork…or even pretend to eat it…in order to save his neck.  “…Eleazar made up his mind in a noble manner, worthy of his years, the dignity of his advanced age, the merited distinction of his gray hair, and of the admirable life he had lived…” He paid the price…he stuck to his guns. 

I would like to think I am a person of integrity and would stick to my gun like Eleazar.   But…I know I have a predilection for bacon and a tendency to reach for my Visa card when it comes to paying the price.    

Thank you, Lord Jesus,

For putting the bacon back on the table.

For I am weak but You are able.

This is a fact, not a fable. 

Thank you, Lord Jesus,

For Your patience with a stubborn mule.

For the New Covenant to simplify the rule.

For Your cross that saved this fool.

Amen.

Tin Box

I arose early and tiptoed into the kitchen to grab a bite before starting my Saturday project.  As I smeared some peanut butter on a slice of bread I noticed the tin matchbox holder next to the stove.  Old and aged, I recognized it as the one that had always hung next to my mother in law’s stove. As all the memories rushed back, I had to bite my tongue and hold my breath to keep the tears in check.  I began to understand why my dear wife was having such a hard time dealing with the disposal of her mother’s belongings and closing up the house in which she had been raised.

Yesterday, while listening to her tell of saying good-bye to her mother’s house and the Church her grand parents built…the one her mother attending for so many years…I helped unpack her car and carried in the tattered books, the tiny bells and the homemade pottery…her mother’s stuff.

Lubbock, TX will not be the same. The passing of…to some…just a second grade school teacher but…to most…she was so much more. I have no words that express my feelings for the loss of this good and faithful servant.  I can only console myself with the knowledge that she will be rewarded for her 104 years of good and faithful service.

My wife is a strong woman, just like her mother, not given to emotional outbursts of crying or crazy mood swings but strong in her convictions and beliefs.  I know she will be just fine. 

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for these little reminders of someone who was a clear reflection of You.

Amen.

  

Word Of The Day

Spell: Concupiscence

Definition: Con-cu-pis-cence (noun) Lust or strong desire.

Use it in a sentence: I am hell-bent to keep my concupiscence from sucking me down the toilet of life.

This word came up at our early Wednesday morning breakfast club and it became abundantly clear to me that I am not and never will be in the world of academia.  While I love big words…my talent seems to be in the area of misusing them.    Reading has always been a challenge for me.  With my dyslexia...reading is like a word jumble or crossword puzzle.  It’s like trying to decode “eat more Malto-meal” without a little orphan Annie decoder pen or “sind die Bismark” without the Enigma machine.  But I count it a blessing…not being able to read well…that way I don’t waste a lot of time reading a lot of useless information and can allocate more time to important stuff like…day dreaming, talking to myself or talking to God.

Dear Lord Jesus,

I’m thanking You for someone to talk to.

It’s not so rough, to talk important stuff,

For You understand the entire plan.

I am good to go, I don’t need to know

I trust in you, it will come true.

Your awesome plan that is so grand.

Amen.

My Neighbors Ox

I pulled my neighbors ox out of a ditch this morning.  Actually it was a Ram 2500 and it wasn't the Sabbath but it was a Holy Day.  Nevertheless, it was a good feeling to put my agenda on hold and help someone else.  Too many times I overlook these opportunities due to my tunnel vision self-interest.
Dear Lord Jesus, help keep me focused on what is important to you not me.
Amen.

Locked Up

I was locked up for four days where I met some new friends.  We spent a long weekend laughing, crying and enjoying music.  It wasn’t the normal crowd I hang with, but I had a great time…partying, eating and getting high. It was incredible…our drug of choice was Jesus Christ.  Yes! Getting high on Jesus.

The prison ACTS team has been at it again...doing what Farther David described best with the quote “I am nobody…trying to tell anybody…about somebody…that wants to save everybody.”

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for giving me the courage to speak for you.

Now sixty-seven more souls can’t plead ignorance for they have been told and through their repentant tears have acknowledged they understand the plan.

Please Lord, grant them the strength to carry through with their promise. 

Please Lord, protect them and keep them close to your heart.

Amen

Pancakes and Sausage

Our early Wednesday morning breakfast group sat around the table munching on pancakes and sausage as we discussed the subject of the day…Clarity of thought.

I had little to offer, as I cannot ever remember having a completely clear thought in my entire life.  As usual…the discussion seemed to get off onto a tangent of the world’s problems and its moral decay.  Again I had little to offer in the way solving the world’s problems as I spent much of my time over the last two decades just trying to reverse my own moral decay. 

My conclusion was that life is a test and a learning experience.  It seems like I have spent a lifetime gaining the necessary experience…the necessary wisdom to pass the test.

I finally figured out that I can’t pass my wisdom on to the next generation.  And my parents were unable to pass it on to me…as I was far too smart at the time. This all adds validity to the axiom: “Good judgment is gained through experience and most experience is gained through bad judgment.”

It is a shame that all the wisdom goes to waste and the next generation has to make its own mistakes.

Dear Lord Jesus,

Forgive me for being so “smart” at a young age.

Thank you, for wonderful parents who tried their best to smarten me up.

Thank you, for being so patience with all my bad judgment.

Amen.

The Frame Carpenter

Finally the guy framing my wife new bathroom got started today.  He spent half the day going back and forth to the lumberyard exchanging the 8 ft 2x4’s for the correct precut studs.  His excuse was that they sent the wrong stuff.  Then all I could hear the rest of the afternoon was huffing and puffing, mumbling and groaning and some remark about “if I could lose 40 pounds and 40 years this job would be a lot easier.”  Then he quit early with some lame-o excuse about wanting to go to church on Saturday night. 

So I put away my nail gun and all my other tools, extensions cords and air hoses.  Tomorrow I’ll try not to huff and puff so much...maybe even start on that diet. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Thank you, Lord Jesus for all you have bless me with.  Even my marginal carpenter shills.

Amen.

Pearly Gates

As of late I have spend a lot of time wondering about what it’s going to be like when I get to the “pearly gates”.  I am confident my name was written in the “book of life” but what if it is misspelled.  It also concerns me as to how many black marks are beside my name or possibly the name scratched out.  Will there be a password?  What questions will I be asked?  Will it be a multiple choice or essay test?  Will I have the right answer? 

I’ve given some thought to the question: What did you do to deserve to get in?  My answer would have to be “Nothing, absolutely nothing.”  Jesus, you did I all.  You gave it your all, you made me, you saved me, and you blessed me.  Looking back I can see that you were always there, taking care of me even when I ignored you and your guidelines.  So I just wanted you to know I accept your gift…indeed an undeserved gift…but I still accept. 

Thank You, Lord Jesus.

Amen. 

Too Late?

We all sat around the table discussing the fact that the world has changed.  It’s not the same world we knew as kids. The one telephone that hung on the kitchen wall was used for emergencies only, not for visiting.  Today, children are born with cell phones attached to their ears.  We no longer eat family meals together or pray the family rosary.  Our “one nation under God” has put God out to pasture. With my 20/20 hindsight it all becomes very clear…the mistakes I’ve made…are made. The bell has been rung and can’t be un-rung.  It’s too late to close the barn door once the horse is out.

It is abundantly clear that the world has change and it all happened on my watch.

But I must believe that there is hope for the future. I must believe that it is not too late.  Look at the people of Nineveh…they changed.  

I can no longer be just an observer.

What is it going to take for me to take action?

Will I have to be thrown overboard?

Will I have to be swallowed by a fish?

Dear Lord Jesus, give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and enough wisdom to know the difference.

Amen.

Tuesday

Dear Diary

In the early morning dark, illuminated by a pale white full moon, I pedaled toward the church and listened to the bells telling me five minutes remained before Mass began.  It was a great sensation because today was the first day in the last month I felt like I was NOT hung over. It had been a tuff few weeks with all the surgeries. Two days of each week I spent with an ice pack on my head bemoaning the fact that I had stuff to do but didn’t feel like doing it.  Each week I would peel back the bandage and reveal a new miniature railroad like track of stitches across the landscape of my face.  It gave me time to think of those people who are really sick, bed ridden or worse…those who will never get better.  So…thank you, Lord Jesus… for this little reminder of what it is to not feel so good.  And thank you for my abundant good health.  Amen.