January 16, 2010 | Posted by Chris
Hello All,
Last night I read a passage from Genesis. It was an unfamiliar passage at the end of a very familiar story. The story was the story of Noah and the flood. Everyone knows what happens in this story. God sees that the whole world has become evil and wicked except for Noah and his family. God decides that we need a clean slate and has Noah build an arc for his family and all the animals of the world to live in. God floods the world, and Noah, along with his family, survive the flood. God makes a covenant with Noah and his family to never flood the earth to kill all the people and creatures of the earth again, and leaves the rainbow as a sign of this covenant.
Yes, we all know THAT story. However, there are several passages after this tale that I, for one, was not familiar with. One such story is the story of Noah being the creator of the first vineyard. Basically, Noah makes the first vineyard and consequentially, the first wine. Noah, having had too much wine one night, gets drunk, takes his clothes off and then, passes out naked on the floor of his home. Noah’s youngest son, Ham, comes in, sees his father naked, and then promptly goes outside and tells his older brothers what has happened. His older brothers put a robe on their shoulders and walk backwards into the home to drape the robe over their father without seeing him naked. Noah wakes up, probably with a headache, finds out what happened and cursed the youngest son, praising the older two.
Why did this passage stick out to me? It reminds me of the parable of the 3 servants and the talents from the Gospel. Basically, a rich landowner goes away, giving his servants proportional amounts of talents (or money) to invest. The youngest servant does nothing with the talents, while the other two invest theirs and double them. The story also seems to mirror that of the good Samaritan tale as well. A bunch of people walk by someone clearly in need, and only an outsider, a Samaritan, will help him.
Ham, saw his father cold and naked on the floor. Instead of doing something himself, he runs out and announces the situation to the whole family. He could of quietly taken care of it himself, and nobody would have been the wiser. Instead of choosing to help his father, Ham ignores the need and runs away.
How often have we seen something wrong and ignored it or run away from it? How about within our families? Do we see a family member struggling and simply ignore it, or even worse, gossip about it without taking action? God calls us to quietly pull someone who is in need or in error aside and assist them, without fanfare or gossip. To ignore the person in need, is to ignore Christ in His need on the cross.
The reading I read this morning was from 1 Timothy 6. The thing that stood out to me was in the last few passages of the chapter. It talks about people who strive for riches in this world and how they end up hurting their families and others. It basically states that as long as we have food and clothes, than we should be happy.
However, in a later passage in chapter 6, it also points out that wealth in of itself is not a bad thing. What it does say is that the love and pursuit of wealth is what is sinful. It also states that if a person is wealthy, not to be proud of their wealth, but to use it to help the poor.
Part of the reason for the whole economic crisis in the past few years has been two-fold greed. The greed of loan and mortgage companies made them give out loans to people who were less qualified, thinking they make more money this way. The greed of the people made them take the loans they knew they probably couldn’t pay back, in order to get a better house or more stuff that they didn’t need.
In the end, what happened? The banks and loan companies went broke because people couldn’t pay the loans back and the people who took the loans lost everything they had purchased.
If you have money, that is great, as long as you are a good steward of that wealth. However, those who are boastful and are constantly buying all sorts of great stuff for themselves and their friends will end up being disappointed in the end. Money can only help us when we are in this world, we can’t take it with us to the next.
My suggestions, tithe, 5% to your church and 5% to a charitable organization. When you have some extra cash, donate a little extra to an organization you trust, or maybe, donate in someone else’s name as a gift. Make sure that you truly look at whether buying something is needed or if it could wait a while. Finally, if you have a credit card, pay off any outstanding balance and then pay the card off every month after that. This way, you aren’t going into unnecessary debt.
Let God be the root of your life, not money, and you will be well taken care of.
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January 15, 2010 | Posted by Chris
Hello all,
As you may or may not know, I am currently trying to deepen my faith and to grow as a man in God’s eyes. I’m currently reading Be a Man! by Father Larry Richards. I’ve just gotten through chapter 2 and the activities associated with this chapter have to do with getting to know God by knowing the Word, which is Jesus, but, also the Word of the Bible. So, the goal is to pick a passage from the Bible two times a day and reflect on those passages.
Last night, I read a passage from 2 Maccabees. In the passage, it talked about Judas conquering a city and that the people of that city were “confident in the walls they had built”. However, through the power of God, Judas defeated the city.
Today, I read the Gospel passage about the temptation of Jesus after the 40 days and nights in the desert. In this passage there was another wall. Except this time, it was the wall of the temple and Satan was tempting Jesus to jump stating, “Scripture says that His angels will catch you, lest you dash your foot against a stone”.
Christ replies, “Scripture also says not to put the Lord your God to the test”.
Now, what do these passages have in common? Well, on the physical level it appears that there are walls involved in both passages. One is in reference to the walls of a city, meant to keep people out, and the other, the wall of the temple in Jerusalem, in some ways, meant to house God’s presence.
However, the thing I find in both these passages is a reference to our relationship with the Lord. For example, the people in the passage from 2 Maccabees were “confident” in the walls they had built for themselves.
Aren’t we all like this sometimes? We are always confident in the ways we are choosing to do things. I know that I personally get pretty stubborn and set in my ways about a lot of things. However, we really need to be relying on God for everything. If we put faith in the things that we build, if we put faith in our own ways of doing things, which are clouded by concupiscence, then we will fall. However, if we put our faith in God, even if the odds are stacked against us, we will conquer, because His ways are stronger than the ways of men.
Now, the second reading in the Gospel warns us not to take this too far. Satan encourages Jesus to test God in His ways by throwing Himself off the wall of the temple. However, Christ says that we should not put the Lord our God to the test.
Again, how often do we do this? We pray “lead us not into temptation” in the Our Father prayer. However, how often do we find that we put ourselves in harm’s way? I know that as a man, I struggle with chastity, mostly in regards to my past. However, how often am I drawn to an article online that has immodest pictures? How often do I put myself onto sites where I know there is a good possibility I will run into trouble? How often do I know that there is something that bothers Tanya but, I do it anyway.
We want God to protect us from evil and to be our strength. However, we need to make sure that we aren’t presuming on His mercy. If you jump out of a plane without a parachute with faith that God will save you, there is a chance that you’ll survive…however, it isn’t very likely.
The point is, we need to trust in God but, also work with Him in order to stay on the right path. We can do all things with God, but, we must make sure that we are doing His will.
I basically got two messages out of the readings. Don’t depend on yourself, but on God and don’t presume on God, you have to meet Him half way.
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January 14, 2010 | Posted by Tanya
It seems like the more one lives, the less one lives for oneself.
I do not do a lot of the things I used to do, mostly due to the time that is needed for Chris and Linus. The more people I am blessed to know, the less I think about what I want. Instead I end up putting everyone else before me. My true passion used to be writing: songs, poems, anything to express myself. Words moved me in ways life never did. They were my wings of escape and protection. I always had my pen and paper to turn to when I had a bad day without worrying about being judged. A listening ear and shoulder to cry on were present through the lyrics that appeared on the page. An answer or advice was not needed, just being there was enough. Somewhere along the way of life burdens, I have lost my friends and passion. I miss how I could be myself with purely me. It was almost like meditation or prayer. Loneliness was never felt, only serenity.
Still Me
Often I wonder if that girl still exists,
the one with such great courage.
A strength greater than her image,
wisdom beyond her years,
reliance on herself,
so independent with her tears.
As I search in the mirror
her reflection has transformed.
No longer an awkward teenager,
but a woman with so much more.
A loving husband,
a beautiful baby boy,
being a mother and wife
could not bring her greater joy.
Yet there is emptiness
still longing to be filled.
Another vocation is calling
as she writes these words to you.
A paper of feelings,
a pen to hold,
finding herself
through stories untold.
-Tanya
Categories: Art/Poetry, Faith | Tags: | 2 Comments »
January 13, 2010 | Posted by Chris
Hello All,
If you listen to the Life on Fire podcast, you may already know that Tanya and I support various organizations that assist the poor and suffering in Haiti. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and is constantly plagued with natural disasters due to its location on the globe. This held true for a disaster that struck yesterday evening.
Around 5pm EST a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the capital city of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area. This was followed by several aftershocks of over 5.0 . This has resulted in the entire infrastructure of the country collapsing. Government buildings have crumbled to the ground, hospitals and schools are in rubble and because the phone and electric lines are down, nobody knows exactly how many people are injured or dead.
The Red Cross is putting out a request for assistance as is Food for the Poor and the Haitian Health Foundation. All of these organizations have a history of providing quality aide to Haiti, not just in disaster situations, but, on a regular basis. These organizations provide food, medicine and educational resources to Haiti.
As bad as things were in Haiti prior to this quake, things are significantly worse now. Roads are completely blocked by the rubble from buildings and from landslides, hindering rescue efforts. At this point, we all need to take an “all hands on deck” mentality. Sending food, water, clothing, school supplies and medicine is not going to help at this point. The supplies will take months before they reach Haiti through these charitable organizations. The best bet at this point is to give money to these organizations.
Tanya and I both agreed that we should take some money out of our savings to do some extra donations to support Haiti in this crisis. We aren’t bragging about this, just stating that we feel that it is very important to help the people of Haiti during this time of crisis.
God calls us to provide food for the hungry, clothing for the naked, and shelter for the homeless. In this extreme disaster situation, we need to do whatever we can as God’s people to help restore peace, security and order in Haiti. We have no idea how many families have been devastated by this disaster and how much even a small amount of money will help. Don’t forget that organizations such as Food for the Poor and the Haitian Health Foundation have relationships with food and drug groups that provide low-cost solutions to help Haiti. Even $5 can make a HUGE difference.
So please, I beg of you, give something to help the people of Haiti. They need monetary support for relief workers, food, shelter and clean water more than ever in this time of crisis. Keep in mind that when you give to these organizations, it may not seem like much, but it truly changes lives and helps people.
Below are donation links to the three organizations listed above. Tanya and I donated to Food for the Poor and to the Haitian Health Foundation as these groups provide more aid per dollar than the Red Cross does. However, the Red Cross does have more resources to get people out to Haiti quickly so, you may want to donate to them as well. All of these are non-profit organizations and are tax deductible.
Thank you for your kindness and help!
Food for the Poor
Haitian Health Foundation
Red Cross International
Categories: Faith, Health, Money | Tags: Catholic, Charity, Christian, Food, Haiti, Haiti Earthquake, Health, Money | No Comments »
January 12, 2010 | Posted by Tanya
After getting sick of seeing my ice cream machine sit in my closet for two years, I decided to try it out.
Original Recipe Ingredients for Chocolate Fudgesicle Ice Cream:
2 packages instant chocolate pudding, 3 cups reduced fat or low fat milk, chilled
I cut the recipe in half and used 1 sugar-free vanilla pudding mix with 1 1/2 cups of skim milk. I also added 1 1/2 T of instant coffee grounds and topped it with caramel syrup. Since I was using skim milk and a sugar-free pudding mix (which has less weight), I would expect the texture to be less creamy and thick. After putting the mixture (except the syrup) into my ice cream machine for about 25 minutes, it was still not as thick as I would like it so I put it into a container, topped it with the caramel syrup, and put it into the freezer.
The next day, I let the pudding ice cream sit out a bit to thaw enough to scoop it. It had more of an Italian ice texture and it tasted like french vanilla coffee. The flavor was rich and delicious, and it made me think of Starbucks.
-Tanya
Categories: Food | Tags: | 1 Comment »