Rewired for the Journey

  Throughout my years with Roma, I have dragged her through so many different church doors to either preach or play music for, or simply to explore. She has been a really good sport about it all. But last month she came to me and told me from the heart that before she dies she wants to be Catholic.  Channeling my inner Baptist long-windedness I will share with you a very tender and private story of faith.  Roma grew up going to St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church. She went to school there and worshipped there too. When she came of age she wanted to be Catholic and her mother would not allow it. She was heartbroken. She eventually went to the Episcopal Church as a compromise. But in our intimate talks recently she shared deep down she wants to be Catholic before she dies. This has been a lifelong buried desire of hers. I love her and so I have been working on seeing if I can make this happen for her through my contacts that I have. I would naturally join with her so she is not doing this al

  Last week, I was blindsided by a Christian buzzsaw. I listened to two wonderful sermons from a Protestant pastor on Christian divisions within Christendom. Sadly, since the Reformation, the faith has splintered into thousands of different faith sects in the name of Jesus. Even though that same Jesus they profess said in Matthew 12:25-26 Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid to waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand; and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?" (RSVCE)  Also, we have had since the Reformation the Protestant Christians against the Catholic Christians. This is very sad that we are pitied against each other over the most mundane things. I have seen a church split over the color of carpeting being put in the sanctuary. I have firsthand experienced being asked not to teach a Bible Study for fear of me trying to teach Catholic doctrine in a Pro

  Since I wrote my last blog some people have asked me about my "Protestant" tendencies. That actually was a very good question and one I wanted to address in my blog so put your Holy Ghost seat belt on! I have been Protestant my whole life having been baptized when I was four months old at Wesley United Methodist Church. Throughout my life, I have visited various Protestant churches for different lengths of time to learn about them. This helped greatly as I studied theology and taught it at various churches and at the college level. I have pastored and preached at different Protestant churches. So I have had decades of interaction with the Protestant faith. I admire their deep desire to know the Holy Bible and their love of the Bible. Secondly, the burning passion to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Third, they are not afraid to share Jesus and the liturgical churches could learn more about evangelization from them. So having spent time in the Liturgical and Protesta

  Ever since I was introduced to the Catholic Church I have been fascinated by this body of the Christian faith. One thing that has stuck with me that I admire is the unashamed strength to stand up for what they believe and back it up with The Three Pillars of the Church. Now for those who do not know The Three Pillars, they are number one, Sacred Scripture which comprises the Old Testament and New Testament in a total of seventy-three books. Next is the Apostolic Tradition which is the Living Tradition and the liturgies. Thirdly, The Living Magisterium which is the teaching authority of the Pope in Communion with the Bishops. So what brought this topic up for me is listening to a podcast by Fr. Mike Schmitz denouncing the opening in France of the Olympics when blasphemy was committed by mocking The Last Supper of Jesus Christ. I know some of you are thinking this is already old news. At the time, so many wrote and talked about it that I felt it would be overkill if I wrote about it. I

In ancient times people built huge walls around their city to keep the people safe. There would be three shifts throughout the night to keep watch for any possible enemy that would come to harm them. The men of these shifts were called the Night Watchmen. They would walk on top of the wall around the city watching to see any need to sound an alarm. They were also assigned to light street lamps throughout the city on the first watch. The first shift was from 6 pm to 10 pm then the second shift was from 10 pm to 2 am and then finally the morning shift was from 2 am to 6 am. Now at 6 am, the Watchmen would blow the horn to announce it was morning and time to get up and start your day. Now today our Night Watchmen would be considered the police who patrol at night in our towns and cities. The military scans the skies at night to detect any possible attacks on the country itself.  Now I would like to focus on who is the Night Watchmen of our spiritual lives? Usually, that is ourselves and s

  About a week ago I thought I caught a stomach virus. Four days later in pain and sleep-deprecated I went to the doctor to find out I had a gallbladder attack. After another five days in the hospital, I finally had the intense pain gone and I was able to sleep more than 30 minutes. But now I am home and my energy level is running low which is awful for a high-energy guy who likes to go and get it in life. I never saw all this coming or I would have made some decisions to try and avoid this or at least contain it. Life I believe is part of how the Good Lord helps us mature and learn about ourselves more in this mortal state before moving back into our spiritual dimension again. Now this is provided we accept the key to entrance in the Kingdom of Glory by accepting what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross to redeem us from our sin-filled condition. Now this is a belief that can be accepted as truth or denied completely to the person's peril. Just a year ago I was staring at going t