Alaska

Alaska’s Susitna Glacier (63*26’00”N, 147*12’00’W)

One hundred and thirty five miles of bad gravel road and I had not seen a car, a person, a house or telephone pole. This place shouted; “Look at the breathtaking beauty that I have made.” It occurred to me that there was no way to deny the existence of God. Who else could do this but God? 

This picture...found during a rare office cleanup...brought back many grand memories of a ten thousand mile trip I made in the summer of 1996.  A trip was made in an old ’84 Nissan Sentra for which I paid $500.00.   I struck out with four bad tires, two bad CV joints and a perplexing problem that caused the engine to sputter out on occasion.   Some tools, a tent and a sleeping bag were stuffed into the back seat and an old hand-me-down bicycle was bunged to the homemade bike rack.  There was a two-fold purpose for the trip: one…to obtain my seaplane rating from a flight school located in Mouse Pass, AK.  Two…to determine the intermittent problem that caused the engine to sputter out…leaving the driver stranded until it wanted to run again.

All went well until I reached Yukon Territory…if you don’t count the numerous fainting spells that the engine took.  With each episode I would jumper out a different electrical component trying to isolate the problem. I was determined not to replace anything until I knew…without a doubt…what the problem was. Just before I reach Whitehorse a tire decided to let me down…so the trusty and well-used spare was pressed into service.  Then the CV joints that had been clicking around every corner for the last fifty thousand miles start to undulate in an uncontrollable fashion.  As I crept into Whitehorse looking for my automotives needs…I came across Robert’s Service Station, ironically located down the street from Robert Service’s historical home.  I was able to purchase a new tire that I tucked away in the trunk to bolstered my false security.  After combing through Sam McGee’s junkyard I located a couple of “not too used” CV joints.  After a lengthy and knuckle busting event…it was on the road again.  Yes, “There are strange things done in the midnight sun”.

After dealing with several more fainting spells, battling microscopic “no-see-ums” and gargantuan mosquitoes I arrived at my destination set up camp and spent the night under the Northern Lights.  

The next day my flight training started in a vintage floatplane.  The first two days there was more sight seeing than learning taking place.  We hop scotched from one secluded mountain lake to other isolated ponds…flying within inches of shear rock cliffs where an occasional mountain goat clung to the crags and shimmed over treetops on approaches to mirror like lakes where bald eagles perched.  Alaska’s rugged beauty is undeniable.    

What an adventure!  I returned home with many unforgettable memories, one new tire, a $12.00 part that fixed the fainting problem and two CV joints that work like new…not to mention my pilot’s license that now read “Single Engine Land & SEA…”

Thank you Lord Jesus for all my blessings.  Thank you for a memorable trip.  Thank you for the undeniable confirmation that you are alive and well.

I can only imagine that heaven is like an Alaskan summer without mosquitoes.

Amen.

Dear Diary

I must confess that for quite some time now I have been trying to get a handle on what is happening.  It’s a feeling that I can’t seem to find the words to explain.  At first I thought maybe it was low blood sugar complicated with hay fever symptoms or…possibly…I was catching the flu…but the strange feeling has persisted for some time. In spite of my daydreaming…each day at Mass…the sensation takes hold of me and all I can do is hold my breath and clench my teeth in order to keep from crying.  As it subsides I get a tremendous sense of gratitude and awe.  Sometimes it hits me at the Consecration, sometimes during the readings and sometimes when the Eucharist is placed in my hand.  It is never at the same time, yet, it always makes it difficult to breath and impossible to speak. 

Dear Father God…so genteel

What could be better…this is ideal

Now and forever before you I kneel

I’m ready to sign up and seal the deal.

Dear Lord Jesus, I believe it is you that I feel

I come to your altar and partake of your meal

The emotions I harbor are hard to conceal

This sensation I have has to be real.

Come Holy Spirit, I make this appeal

Please fill me up with your zeal

And with your fire my heart anneal

For this I pray that you hear my spiel.

Amen 

Unbelievable Mosquitoes

In spite of my doubts, I have come to believe in a lot of unbelievable stuff and I am convinced that God can do whatever he says he can do…after all HE IS GOD.  I have no problem with the water into wine, the walking on water, or His presence in the bread.  BUT...The one thing I cannot believe is that he made mosquitoes.  Why did he make mosquitoes?  I cannot get my head or my heart around that.

Dear Lord Jesus

Thank you for the awesome rain

With the rain comes a little pain

While a blessing all the same

Your mosquitoes drive me insane.

When I stray and show the strain

Please forgive my words profane

It’s all too clear and very plain

This I know…it is YOU that reign.

Amen.

Comment On "Give An Explanation"

"So true.  However I have found that the best witness to those who do not want to believe, especially the "sophisticated & over educated", is not logic, reason or scripture quotations. Rather it is testimony what Jesus has done in my life.  They are unable to argue about that!"  Wrote Caroyln.

Why didn't I think of that.  Thanks for the comment.

Give An Explanation

Today’s second reading (1 Pt 3:15-18) drove the message home clearly and painfully…as painful as a sharp stick in the eye.

An excerpt from the first Letter of Saint Peter

…

“Always be ready to give an explanation

  to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,

...”

This troubles me because I have tried to explain the unexplainable.   Even though I believe in the unbelievable…and I am convinced that the unexplainable unbelievable is absolutely true…yet…I cannot find the words to adequately explain my reason for hope…especially to someone who doesn’t want to believe. 

It worries me that my inability to effectively explain my reason for HOPE…may come back and bit me on my “beast of burden”.

As I scribble my thoughts in cursive

Writing this mindless missive.

I find myself quite pensive

Perhaps a bit obsessive.

For the HOPE that You do give

Makes me want to live.

I no longer can be passive

Now I hold the motive.

Currently it is the season

To explain and to reason.

This is no time for cowards

It’s time to find the right words.

That tell the amazing story

Of Your power and Your glory.

I might show some true grit

With the help of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

I Struggle

I struggle to write the perfect essay

Searching for the words to say

Something that is not cliché

A platitude that might display

A little gratitude that I might pay

To you who showed me the way

I know that I can never repay

For what you did on that dreadful day.

To you my Lord I can’t say nay

For in my heart you must stay

Even with my feet of clay

You can help me not to stray

For this my Lord, I do pray

That I love thee in total agape

So to you Lord, I must defray

For it is you Lord, my Yahweh.

Amen.

Thinking Of Food

Good Friday is a day of fasting and abstinence for serious Catholics…a status to which I aspire to be…of course I woke up thinking of food.   The Pharisee in me immediately went to the rules and started picking apart the letter of the law, looking for some loophole. 

“For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal. Two smaller meals may also be taken, but not to equal a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards.”

 usccb.org

The mathematician in me focused on the equation: two small meals cannot equal one full meal. 

If

X = one small meal

Y = one full meal

And

2X < Y

Solve for “X”

Wait a minute…what’s the value of Y.   Can Y be any value I want it to be?  After all I am the one who has be banned from the “All You Can Eat, Golden Corral”.  

When you’re in the mood.

To eat some food.

Don’t be a jerk.

Get busy with work.

It occupies the mind.

And passes the time.

Think what Jesus did.

Heaven forbid.

He gave it His all.

We just have to call.

In joyful accord,

With a prayer to the Lord.

Amen.

What Did I Give Up For Lent?

Nothing…no wait…I gave up sixteen and a half minutes of my time each day to say the Rosary.  I promised myself to recite the Rosary everyday during Lent in the hope that I would form a habit that would carry forward even after those forty days. 

Not being a big fan of the Rosary’s redundant repetitive nature and recalling the torture this prayer put me thru as a child (thanks to Mom and Dad) it was difficult to embrace this spiritual challenge.  Each night the whole family would be required to say the rosary…on our knees just before bed.  I would always begin to yawn even before we got thru the first decade…an unfortunate habit I catch myself doing still to this day.  I am convinced it works better than any sleeping pill.  But I digress. 

I decided to test myself with this spiritual exercise so I switch the timing to early morning while driving to Mass.  I also enlisted the help of YouTube to help keep me focused.  But as I counted off the last bead I pondered where the last sixteen minutes went…lost in some daydream wandering the empty halls of my mind.

This is going to a bigger contest than I ever imagined.

Oh! Please Dear Lord

It’s going to be hard.

Cut me some slack

‘cause I want to come back.

To the prayer life I vowed

That would make You proud.

In this world of crazy

I call on Your mercy.

Amen.

Arrived

 I feel as though I’ve arrived. No longer just someone who abuses the senior discount at fast food restaurants…no longer a mere token old guy…now I am a bonafide senior citizen.   

 Each morning I wash down my plethora of pills with a glassful of Meta-Muscil. 

 Without doubt this represents the high point of all lows, the ultimate sign of old age. 

 Although…on the up side…all that fiber adds definition and character to my excrement. 

For sure, character is a virtue to which one should aspire.

If I may speak with tongue in cheek

The meaning of life we strive to seek

With bowels so weak and future bleak

It is all enough to make me shriek

I am aware it is not chic

To let such information leak

Iambic pentameter is total Greek

‘cause this bad writing needs a tweak

Yours truly

a hopeless geek

Having It All

I used to dream of having it all…the big house with a boat in the driveway, fancy cars and all the toys…but, I’ve changed my thinking.  With every asset there is a liability.  No mater how good it looks on paper…net worth has a hidden price tag.  The more you have the more you have to worry about.  Assets are actually liabilities. 

This thinking goes against everything the worldview teaches us.  But, I have come to the conclusion that the worldview is a lie. 

There is a better way, a no stress way, a way of peace and joy.  Of course, this is one of the best kept secretes of all times…and...I’m not telling…I’m not telling because nobody would listen anyway.

The little voice in the back of my head

Would shake its finger when vice mislead

All those years I tried to hide

Only because of foolish pride

Haunted by the “finger shaking” voice

I finally had to make a choice

A decision made with lots of fret

But once made there was no regret

I joined YOUR team…alas I did

I should have done it as a kid

No time to cry over spilt milk

Your joyful peace is smooth as silk

Thank you for all you have done

For my salvation you have won

Although underserved, it’s very true

All I have is because of YOU.

Amen