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

Yes, folks, it is an election year and of course, both parties believe they are going to save the world. Sorry, but Jesus Christ already did that some 2000 years ago. Now the other fun fact about this is every election year it is a Chicken Little story all over again, which is the sky is falling if the Republicans get into office, and the sky is falling if the Democrats get into office. This reminds me of how news on the weather is nowadays. There will be one inch of snow coming which is the great white death from above so stock up on everything. The exaggeration from political parties and the news is absolutely off the charts in this day and age. Gone are the Walter Cronkite and Tom Brokaw days of newscasting.   Social media can be used for good and even to spread the gospel message but also it can perpetuate lies and deceit. I hope it is used more responsibly than what I have been witnessing.  So back to politics and voting, I would say do your best to try and find reliable informati

  A few weeks back we were running late for church. My dear love of my life Roma and I pulled our truck out of the garage. Sitting in the driveway I said if we head to the church we normally attend we are going to be really late but if we go to St. Timothy's we will make it on time because it is only about five miles away. Roma said, "Let's be adventurous and try St. Timothy's since we have never been there." So off we went. We got to St. Timothy's Episcopal Church on time. I hate being late to anything it just is not in my DNA to be late. We were met with a kind and warm welcome. The church was beautiful and clean inside. We loved the High church service with all the smells and bells as we say in liturgical churches. We stayed for Coffee Hour and met many parishioners who came up to us and introduced themselves. When they learned I play percussion and have sung in choirs they were ready to sign me up! We had a marvelous time worshipping and getting to know th

  Since the internet entered our homes and social media dominates the culture of the world we as a human race have rapidly lost our humanity in many ways. People are so vicious to one another and it is so sad to see how narcissistic we have become as a species. I am often balancing what I read and what I listen to so I do not become toxic and filled with false understandings and beliefs. So it is very important to consider just what voices you are listening to and what voices are you reading. What is the mindset of the people, shows, and music you are allowing into your life? We need to be more alert to not allowing trash into our minds, ears, and eyes. Let us not become a landfill for society's useless trash. If you let garbage in soon it will be garbage out. What is most in your heart will eventually come out the mouth both spoken and written. Matthew 15:18-20

  I like a routine in my life. I am good with a bit of structure. This could be why I like following the liturgical calendar because it brings balance and rhythm to me. I find when I cannot make it to church on a Sunday morning I feel unbalanced and I lose my rhythm of the week. Why I am internally built this way I do not know. But I am at peace when I have my balance and rhythm in sync with my Lord Jesus Christ. This morning I had this enlightenment when I missed going to church. I hated it and I felt like something was missing and I felt blue. So I am going to be more aware and work harder to sustain my daily, weekly, and yearly rhythms not only in my spiritual life but also in other areas of my life. It is an internal peace worth working for.

  The Holy Bible has many beautiful truths within its pages and the most wonderful story in the world of how a loving and gracious God came from Heaven to Earth to save us from sin and ourselves.  What I have seen that saddens my heart is when men and women distort the Bible's precious truths. Sometimes they play mental gymnastics with a rubicon of verses to put together their own view of a topic and make the Bible appear to support their side. Both the liberal and conservative Christians do it and even those who are not even believers play this game. People who want all answers to life and faith but only from the Bible are some of the most toxic and unhappy people I know. Where is their Christlike love? Jesus dealt with this kind of mindset in his mortal time on earth and they were called Pharisees. We must be willing to take the Bible as it is written and what the writers led by the Holy Spirit meant. We must be authentic and transparent. Some things in the Bible are uncomfortabl

  I have been in liturgical churches most of my life; they follow the Christian Calendar of seasons and times of the life of Jesus Christ. They have colors that represent those times and certain decorations are put out. On occasion, incense is burned with a meaning behind doing so. At other times certain candles are used with a meaning as in the Advent wreath. Then there are the ashes on our foreheads to bring home the point of Lent and remind us of Christ in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. Sometimes there are visual aids like a Crucifix to shock us into the reality of the awful price of our salvation and freedom from sin. Then there are the bare crosses representing the resurrection of the empty tomb and empty cross. Pictures and statues are part of visual help as is the beautiful stained glass that tells stories of the Holy Bible. Now these are not to be worshipped and become idols. They are merely to help remind and teach us the life stories of Jesus. They help us remember t

  If a book is written by God then you would think that everyone would be doing everything they could to get their hands on the book and read it. Sadly, humans are so broken by sin that they are not compelled to make efforts to read a holy book written by God.  What is more shocking to me is those of a faith tradition that does not have an interest in the holy book of their faith. Now in my case, I am a Christian and I am regarding the Holy Bible.  What brought me to write on this subject is that over the holiday season, I was talking to a relative who is a professing Christian and attends church semi-regularly. I was talking to him about a scripture verse and he said that he did not know it because he does not read the Bible and has never read the Bible all the way through. I honestly was shocked by that answer.  I silently thought to myself we have people risking their lives to get their hands on a Bible in other parts of the world and people sharing a page or two torn out of the Bib