Last night all of the home schooled Catholic children got together to celebrate All Saints Day. Each child had to research and dress up like a Saint.
Gabe dressed up as St. Peter, one of the aposltes, first bishop of Rome, the founder and first Pope of the Catholic Church. He died on a cross, but upside down as he did not feel he deserved to die like his savior, Jesus Christ.
DC dressed up as St. Felicity, a Greek noblewoman with seven children. When the Romans threatened to kill her for not converting back from Christianity to paganism, she would not relinquish her faith. Instead, the Romans killed each of her seven children, individually, all of whom were also Christians, in an attempt to convince her back to paganism. She was eventually killed for her faith and is considered martyred seven times, since she had to watch her seven children die for their faith and then her own life was taken.
I often wonder if I would have the faith to die for it... I hope I would, but you just don't know until you're in that situation.
Would you die for your's?
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Friday, October 28, 2005
Carpet Day
Today will be a short post, as we are finally getting our carpet installed and I'll be spending all day moving furniture from one room to the other.
Happy weekend, everybody.
Happy weekend, everybody.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
A Great Way To Start The Day
As I was about to leave the house early this morning, my daughter, having heard me, jumped out of bed, ran up to me, hugged me tight and told me she loved me. As she hugged me she said "I'm so glad I got to see you before you left today."
Does it get any better than that?
They say you get to review your life after you die... assuming that's true, there are times in my life where I ask God to tag a certain moment as one that I get to relive after my death.
This morning was one of those moments.
Does it get any better than that?
They say you get to review your life after you die... assuming that's true, there are times in my life where I ask God to tag a certain moment as one that I get to relive after my death.
This morning was one of those moments.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
My Fortune Cookie
I had Chinese for lunch today and my fortune cookie had the following fortune:
"The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action."
Good advice. I wonder who writes these things?
"The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action."
Good advice. I wonder who writes these things?
A Talent for Salvation
I've been thinking a lot about my salvation lately. In our Renew group we were talking about how God has set the bar so high (Jesus, i.e., moral perfection) and yet He forgives our struggles through His infinite mercy.
At the same time I've been thinking about St. Paul's comments that we are all part of the One Body of Christ and that we each bring a different talent to the moral table. For me, I believe that talent is writing/filmmaking.
And I've been thinking if these two things are inextricably connected... I can't help but think that if God has given us all unique talents, then we must use those unique talents to praise Him, doing our part as the One Body. And that, our salvation is somehow tied to whether we are using those talents correctly, to full effect, to praise our Creator.
And I am then concerned, if salvation and our unique God-given talents are connected, that I am not using my talents to full effect in honor of Him. And if I were to die today, I wonder if God would ask me... "what the hec were you waiting for?"
And I wonder if use of my God-given talents so far would secure my salvation... or damnation.
And then I think that designers of rollercoaster rides are not going to Hell for not making holy roller coasters and can't a movie just be entertaining without having moral weight?
And then I think that thousands of other people are making stories without moral weight and that I should do something more, somehow making moral stories entertaining stories.
And then I wonder if I have the talent for telling that type of story. And if I don't, then is it tied to my salvation or not?
...you can tell I haven't quite figured this out yet. But I'll keep trying.
At the same time I've been thinking about St. Paul's comments that we are all part of the One Body of Christ and that we each bring a different talent to the moral table. For me, I believe that talent is writing/filmmaking.
And I've been thinking if these two things are inextricably connected... I can't help but think that if God has given us all unique talents, then we must use those unique talents to praise Him, doing our part as the One Body. And that, our salvation is somehow tied to whether we are using those talents correctly, to full effect, to praise our Creator.
And I am then concerned, if salvation and our unique God-given talents are connected, that I am not using my talents to full effect in honor of Him. And if I were to die today, I wonder if God would ask me... "what the hec were you waiting for?"
And I wonder if use of my God-given talents so far would secure my salvation... or damnation.
And then I think that designers of rollercoaster rides are not going to Hell for not making holy roller coasters and can't a movie just be entertaining without having moral weight?
And then I think that thousands of other people are making stories without moral weight and that I should do something more, somehow making moral stories entertaining stories.
And then I wonder if I have the talent for telling that type of story. And if I don't, then is it tied to my salvation or not?
...you can tell I haven't quite figured this out yet. But I'll keep trying.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Carpet Chaos
So, we've ordered carpet for our bedrooms and the home theater room. It was supposed to arrive last Thurs or Fri, so I took those days off. But, the installers called and said it would be Monday. So, Monday came, but so did Wilma. So, then it was supposed to be today, but they didn't get all the carpet. Then it was supposed to be Wednesday, then Thursday... now its Friday.
We'll see.
The down side is that I took Thurs - Wed off of work so that we could do the work with the carpet and then spend a little vacation time away from home. Instead, we've spent every day planning and waiting for carpet that hasn't come.
If it doesn't get installed on Friday, we'll get our money back. We're kinda over it. We just want it done so we can get our life back in order.
The up side is that I've been able to spend some good time with the kids, so that has been a blessing. Other than that, we've accomplished nothing over these five days of vacation that was intended. Considering there are people without homes due to Wilma, I don't want to sound like a whiner. It's just we've had so much planned and it's all been for naught... frustrating.
We'll see.
The down side is that I took Thurs - Wed off of work so that we could do the work with the carpet and then spend a little vacation time away from home. Instead, we've spent every day planning and waiting for carpet that hasn't come.
If it doesn't get installed on Friday, we'll get our money back. We're kinda over it. We just want it done so we can get our life back in order.
The up side is that I've been able to spend some good time with the kids, so that has been a blessing. Other than that, we've accomplished nothing over these five days of vacation that was intended. Considering there are people without homes due to Wilma, I don't want to sound like a whiner. It's just we've had so much planned and it's all been for naught... frustrating.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Monday Morning QB - 10/24
The Bucs had a bye-week this past weekend, so there is not Monday Morning QB this week.
Next week the Bucs take on the 49ers, who lost to the Redskins 52-17. Hopefully the Bucs will be able to duplicate that type of performance.
Next week the Bucs take on the 49ers, who lost to the Redskins 52-17. Hopefully the Bucs will be able to duplicate that type of performance.
Technical Difficulties
Sorry for not posting yesterday. For some reason, the blog would let me create the post, but not post it until this evening.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Faith Renewed
My wife and I are one of the few families still involved in our Renew small Chrisitian community at our church. Apparently there are only two surviving groups and we are one of them. This past Saturday we had the meeting at our house for the first time. It was a wonderful night.
The evening consists of us reading the next days Gospel and discussing how those facets of the reading impact our lives. This week it was from Matthew and how Jesus consolidated the 10 commandments into love God with all of your mind, heart and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Also in attendance tonight was our new priest, Father Michael Morris. He explained that linking those two commandments together was important to the Jews because previously, they prioritized their acts of faith to God over their acts of faith to their neighbor (see the Good Samaritan story). Here, Jesus puts them on an even plain, which was revolutionary for its time.
Overall it was a very nice evening. We are blessed to have so many great families involved and having Father Mike this time around made it extra special.
Its one of those evenings that allow you to refocus your priorities on the important things of life.
The evening consists of us reading the next days Gospel and discussing how those facets of the reading impact our lives. This week it was from Matthew and how Jesus consolidated the 10 commandments into love God with all of your mind, heart and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Also in attendance tonight was our new priest, Father Michael Morris. He explained that linking those two commandments together was important to the Jews because previously, they prioritized their acts of faith to God over their acts of faith to their neighbor (see the Good Samaritan story). Here, Jesus puts them on an even plain, which was revolutionary for its time.
Overall it was a very nice evening. We are blessed to have so many great families involved and having Father Mike this time around made it extra special.
Its one of those evenings that allow you to refocus your priorities on the important things of life.
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