September 2011 Blog Posts (9)

Just so you know, this is a continuation of the last one (about Italy).

            After this whole experience, I was basically left with three empty months of empty twenty-four hour days.  My spirit was empty but my brain was not.  I started writing, reading, thinking about God and learning about all the things I didn’t learn about when I had items on my schedule.  I recall becoming “addicted” to the book of Ecclesiastes, which is where you naturally turn when you’re feeling empty…

Just as a note, I wove together different things that I have read as well as my own words as a prayer to begin my day with a prayerful heart and a way to start my day with God and essentially start the day off right. Just thought that I would share it with. Hope it encourages you to write your own. 

God,

Thank you for this new day. Help me to begin it by first putting on the armor that you have provided for me. I buckle into place the belt of your truth. May I share…

Italy

“It was the day the world went wrong

I screamed till my voice was gone

And watched through the tears as everything

Came crashing down

Slowly panic turns to pain

As we awake to what remains

And sift through the ashes that are left

Behind”

            Above are the opening lyrics to Stephen Curtis Chapman’s “Beauty Will Rise”.  The song talks about how devastating circumstances can sometimes…

So, one of my friends on Facebook recently posted a music video by this band called "The Shaggs"... here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN9UT2zF8c8

Notice there's something off, almost creepy and unsettling about the video?  It may just be "foot foot" himself, but the music is also off-beat, and you can hear a kind of deadness and lack of enthusiasm in the singer's voice that causes you to wonder…

I drink two cups of coffee every single morning (unless I'm only provided with one).  I have an extremely difficult time beginning my day without it.  In fact, right now as I'm writing this, I'm wishing I had a cup in hand *gets up, moves to kitchen, and makes a cup*

It's in the process of brewing now.  Anyway-- when I was in college I would get coffee from random coffee shops almost every day to help me do…

What is more important to most people: perfection, or relatability?  By relatability, I mean the ability you have to have a relationship with a certain person—as in how comfortable you are when you speak to him or her, how well you understand each other, how deep your conversation topics delve, etc.

Who would you pick to work for you?  To be on your team or in a group with you?  To help you get something done?  Would it be the person who doesn’t seem to have any flaws, or the one who…

Each year, we remember September 11. We remember where we were when we heard the news. We remember how we felt. At least, most of us do.  

This year, as we remembered the 10th anniversary, I stood across the street from Middleton Fire Station #1 on University Avenue in Middleton, WI. With about a dozen strangers, I stood beside my son, age 11. 

We watched the firefighters in their dress uniforms,…

Why can parents say "Jesus Christ" in frustration, but kids can't?  Why can your school guidance counselor smoke cigarettes while you're taught day after day that it causes cancer and is bad?  Why can priests preach the message of Christ, but then go and engage in sinful behaviors with children?  What ever happened to role models?

            Last week began a new school year at the school where I substitute teach, speak at Chapel and considered a role model.  As part of…

                  Purity is a difficult topic to address these days.  The way you frame your ideas can make it seem as if you're talking down to people, especially if speaking to a younger generation.  It can seem like a list of don'ts and shouldn'ts that you must follow, but you won't get any personal good from doing so (besides avoiding punishment).  You do it because someone in authority wouldn't be happy if you don't, or because you hold fear that once you break this law, you'll…