Seeing it coming

So I was listening to the radio this morning on the way to work and heard something that blew my mind.  I was listening to a local Catholic radio station and they were talking about the holy land and where the Passion of Jesus actually took place.  The speaker (don't remember his name) has traveled to Jerusalem several times in his life and walked the path that Jesus probably took.  He said that when Jesus was praying in the Garden before he was arrested, he would have seen the guards and their torches coming at him from a great distance.  The garden is on a little hill and there is no obstruction to block the view from where the guards would have approached.  Being at night, it would have been very easy to see the torches lit that the guards carried. 

I can't imagine what that must have been like.  No wonder he was so stressed from the impending burden that he sweat blood.  He saw it coming and stood his ground to take it.  He willingly took it for us...
That blows my mind

Facing the Giants

This morning's faith share meeting was very good. Today's Mass reading was about how Jacob and Caleb wanted to take the Isrealites into the Promised Land. Caleb was a part of 12 'investigators' that went to scout out the land across the river. All but Caleb said that the land was too dangerous and that it was invested with giants. The Lord had delivered his people from Egypt, split a Sea, leveled mountains and still they doubted that He would deliver them to safety. So, God made all of that generation wander in the desert and die.

The discussion in this morning's meeting was about how we face our own giants. Do we run away scared, looking to the negative all of the time, play the blame game, etc. Or, do we face them and ask for the Lord to deliver us? I for one tend to do the former much more than the latter. I have to work on that daily.

Being a father of 6 kids is not easy. There is tremendous stress financially and emotionally. I am commissioned only and have the only household income. It's tough...a man should not have as much grey hair as I do at age 33.

But here's the thing...I'm married to a wonderful woman who believes in me, and most importantly, believes in our Lord and that he will provide for us. I believe in Him too but it's such a blessing to have a partner for me to fall back on. We have to face our giant together every day.

kid pic

Here's a pic I took at church this past Sunday.

a wonderful random gift.

My wife called me yesterday at work and asked if I could pick up something at church before 12. Turns out that she was able to go and she texted me that someone had left $200 for us! No note, no names, just a huge blessing. Praise God!!

It's the end of the month and we needed grocerys and our budget was out of cash so this blessing was perfect. I can't wait to be in a position to give gifts like this to other young couples. God is good all the time and all the time, God is good.