What Does It All Mean

A good friend ran into some difficulty with her van’s automatic windows and made an appointment with the dealer. When she arrived at the service department, the manger looked at his watch and said that she was “ten minutes late.” Well, things happen, traffic, weather, so what’s the problem “please fix the van windows.” The man said that there was no way that he could fit her in now. She was ten minutes late and he had no one available to look at her van. He was too busy!

Ten years age, maybe five years ago this Christian woman would have given him a piece of her mind. Was his lack of courtesy due to the fact that she was a woman, an elderly woman, and a woman in a wheelchair. This time she took a difficult tack. As he leaned over her van window, she noticed that his arm was tattooed with a rosary.

Now was this sign from the Blessed Mother? What young man would have his arm tattooed with such a holy image? Did his mother harass him that if he wanted a tattoo it must have a religious image like a cross and not a skull and cross bones. Or, maybe this busy man had an epiphany moment and felt that the rosary would make a good conversation piece.

“What does it all mean?” she said to herself. She made the decision to go quietly out the door despite this man’s lack of courtesy. She prayed to God for strength and courage as she drove away from the service department without anyone willing to help her with those windows. 

On the way home, she asked Jesus and the Blessed Mother to choose a different way to respond to her dilemma. Instead of feeling pity, she would choose kindness and patience. She lives with a miserable debilitating disease for over twenty-five years that has made her mobility extremely difficult. Don’t people pay attention? Don’t people understand how hard it is to live physically challenged? However, instead of feeling sorry for herself. her prayer was “No thanks.” I will not laquish in this moment of self-pity. She chooses to be a blessing and expressed her thanks for friends who understand and offer her help in her times of need.

Maybe this story is a wake up call for the rest of us who have been blessed with good health to say “thank You Jesus” for my life, my job, my family and health. We might not wear our religion tattoo on our biceps but we need to have a heart willing to make the sacrifice and care for those people who need our compassion and patience. We need never be “that busy.”

God prays for us as we reflect: “The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.” (Psalm 145:9)

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who ask themselves “what does it all mean.” When you feel overwhelmed or misunderstood take it to Jesus and Mother Mary and say “No Thanks” to pity and your put your trust in God.

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We Are Both Grand And Petty

It's interesting to note that the word "Gospel" means "good news," not "good advice." The gospels are not so much a spiritual and moral theology book that tell us what we should be doing, but are more an account of what God has already done for us, is still doing for us, and the wonderful dignity that this bestows on us.

Of course the idea is that since we are gifted in this way our actions should reflect that dignity rather than what's less lofty and more petty inside us. Morality is not a command, it's an invitation; not a threat, but a reminder of who we truly are. We become taller and less petty when we remember what kind of family we ultimately come from.

In essence, we all have two souls, two hearts, and two minds. Inside of each of us there's a soul, heart, and mind that's petty, that's been hurt, that wants vengeance, that wants to protect itself, that's frightened of what's different, that's prone to gossip, that's racist, that perennially feels cheated. Seen in a certain light, all of us are as small in stature .

But there's also a tall, big-hearted person inside each of us, someone who wants to warmly embrace the whole world, beyond personal hurt, selfishness, race, creed, and politics.

We are always both, grand and petty. The world isn't divided up between big-hearted and small-minded people. Rather our days are divided up between those moments when we are big-hearted, generous, warm, hospitable, unafraid, wanting to embrace everyone and those moments when we are petty, selfish, over-aware of the unfairness of life, frightened, and seeking only to protect ourselves and our own safety and interests.

We are both tall and short at the same time and either of these can manifest itself from minute to minute. But, as we all know, we are most truly ourselves when what's tall in us takes over and gives back to the world what the short, petty person wrongly takes.

God prays for us as we reflect: “The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.” (Psalm 145:9)

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are big-hearted, generous, warm and hospitable. May we embrace each moment with your love and compassion for all your people.

I Wish I Was Like Him

 

Just returned from Holy Family’s Third Annual Spaghetti Dinner. The nicest feedback I received was from a gentleman with his walker who came up to share that he was grateful that his son comes to church. This father shared that he attends another Catholic church in a nearby town, but he has heard so many good things about he spirit of Holy Family.

Frankly, I wish that I was more like this man. For despite his physical limitations, he shared a unique quality of the Christian spirit and that is humility.

Let me help you look through the lens of faith and realize that humility does not mean that we are no better than anyone else. It is humanly impossible not to compare ourselves to others. We all like to make comparisons, that we are better at what we do, that we are more holy or that our church is more friendly. But the roots of humility do not lie in where we stand, above or below, others in terms of our moral behavior.

When we think about being humble, and sincerely believe ourselves to be no better than anyone else in this world, we need to look at our “sweet spot,” at the depth of our heart, where one sees that, like everyone else in this world, we are vulnerable, alone, fearful, naked, self-centered, inadequate, helpless, just as much in need of God and others as absolutely every other person on this earth, and, thus, no better than anyone else.

Nobody gives themselves life, or gives themselves salvation. We are all equally inadequate and helpless here. Our vulnerability levels us all and the key to genuine humility lies in recognizing that. Indeed, the more morally and psychologically sensitive we are, the more likely we are to recognize our neediness and our solidarity in weakness with everyone else.

When we make the claim that we are no better than anyone else and that we stand in need of God's mercy just as much as every sinner on earth, we are not faking humility, but we are not making moral comparisons with our neighbors or other religions.

The invitation to humility is a clear: Become like a little child. Take the lowest place. Never consider yourself better than anyone else. Know that you need God's mercy as much as the greatest sinner on earth. However we don't come to this by comparing ourselves to others, but by recognizing how utterly naked we all stand outside of God's mercy.

God prays for us as we reflect: “My child, perform your tasks with humility; then you will be loved by those whom God accepts.” (Sirach 3:17.)

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who go about their ordinary lives with much grace and kindness. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

Monks Secrets About Prayer

Why is it so difficult to pray regularly?

Some reasons are obvious: over-busyness, tiredness and too many demands on our time, constant distraction, laziness, worship services that bore us, and methods of prayer that leave us flat and inattentive.

But there is another reason too, suggested by monks and mystics. The problem we have in sustaining prayer, they say, is often grounded in the false notion that prayer needs to be interesting, exciting, intense, and full of energy all the time. But that is impossible, nothing is meant to be exciting all the time, including prayer and church services, and nobody has the energy to always be alert, attentive, intense, and actively engaged all the time.

When I am on the altar leading the community in prayer, it’s not show time but rather, a moment to put everyone in the presence of a loving Lord.

Prayer is meant to respect the natural rhythms of our energy. Praying is like eating and, as we know from experience, you don't always want a banquet. If you tried to have a banquet every day, you would soon find coming to the table burdensome and would look for every excuse to escape, to sneak off for a quick sandwich by yourself.

Eating has a natural rhythm: banquets and quick snacks, rich meals and simple sandwiches, high times with fine linen and low times with paper napkins, meals which take a whole evening and meals which you eat on the run. And the two depend upon each other: You can only have high season if you mostly have ordinary time. Healthy eating habits respect our natural rhythms: our time, energy, tiredness, the season, the hour, our boredom, our taste.

Prayer should be the same, but this isn't generally respected. Too often we are left with this impression: All prayer should be high celebration, upbeat, with high energy. The more variety the better. Longer is better than shorter. Time and tiredness should never be a consideration. During prayer, nobody should ever look at a wristwatch. People at a prayer service need not be told how long the service will last. The solution to boredom and lack of energy is more variety and imagination.

No wonder we often lack the energy to pray, and want to avoid church services.

Monks have secrets worth knowing. They know that, if you pray regularly, boredom and lack of energy will soon begin to wear you down. The answer then is not so much new prayer forms and more variety, but rhythm, routine, and established ritual. For monks, the key to sustaining a daily life of prayer is not so much variety, novelty, and the call for higher energy, but rather a reliance on the expected, the familiar, the repetitious, the ritual, the clearly defined. What's needed is a uncomplicated, practical prayer form which gives you a clear expectancy and does not demand of you an energy that you cannot muster on a given day.

It is no accident, I suspect, that more people used to attend daily church services when these were shorter, simpler, less demanding in terms of energy expenditure, and gave people attending a clear expectation as to how long they would last. The same holds true for other prayers, the office of the church and basically all common prayer. What clear, simple, and brief rituals provide is precisely prayer that depends upon something beyond our own energy.

Some people complain about the rituals of the church. What they don’t under stand is that the rituals can carry us, our tiredness, our lack of energy, our inattentiveness, our indifference, and even our occasional distaste. They keep us praying even when we are too tired to muster up our own energy.

Sometimes, I think, we are working too hard to make the Mass more entertaining and are not letting the rituals themselves work hard enough

That's true too for prayer. We think that good intention and energy will sustain our rituals of prayer, but they can't. Rather our rituals of prayer can sustain our good will and our energy.

God prays for us as we reflect: “Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.” (Psalm 66:20).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who grow tired and busy and unable to pray. Help them relax and sense your presence in a heart open to receive your gentle comfort and peace.

Tangled

On my drive into work each morning, I pray the rosary for all my friends. It can be a challenged when the beads get knotted up and a tangled mess. I am waiting for someone to invent a rosary that does not “‘get tangled.” That’s like asking God for a life that doesn’t have any snags in it.

You have a choice when your life begins to ensnare you with lots of demands. Option one. Blame God. Option two. Fix your own problems but worry that it’s not good enough. Option three. Practice “self compassion.”

I prefer that you learn to practice this ancient tradition of letting go and repeat the following mantra “good enough is good enough.”

I read that people are wired and caught up in judging themselves. Of course there is scriptural basis for this concern. A parishioner share that he liked this past week’s homily when I walked down the aisle and get close to the people. Most folks don’t sit too close to the front in this church. He agreed with the teaching that a sign of holiness is gratitude. But he wanted to reconcile the bible teaching about a judgment day separating goats and sheep. Which side of the aisle do you think you will wind up on?

Scientists suggest that it’s in our DNA to look at something to say it could be better and then work on this trait as a goal. This way of thinking could be a good step toward self-improvement. But it can become negative feedback in that we start to look at every moment and say: ‘I could have done a better job.” The toxic voice in our head finds us lacking. I do not think God wants us to put so much effort into worrying about judgment day. When asked by his disciples to increase their faith Jesus reminds them that their faith is a gift. We can better focus our attention on living our life in gratitude for the gifts we have received from God and share them with others.

The prayer when we meditate on as we pray the rosary beads is to break the cycle of negativity so we can choose to be purposely compassionate toward ourselves.

We say the rosary in honor of Mary who had to be a special mom nurturing her son. It was her example that taught Jesus to be a compassionate young man. She must have had something special called the “the will to do one thing.” The one thing every saint knows is to live a life of gratitude. Mary possessed that special quality “to will the one thing” because look how her son turned out.

God watches over us as we pray: “Yet He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; often He restrained His anger, and did not stir up all His wrath.” (Psalm 78:38).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who find their lives tangled and in a mess. As they pray the rosary, may each bead release them from toxic worries and may their life be filled with self-compassion.

Climb Aboard

I was on my way to select some pumpkins when an 18,000-ton truck pulls into the dump area for harvested corn and my friend Denny jumps out of the cab and says, “Get in.” He wanted this city-boy to experience what’s its like to go out into the corn field and drive log side the ‘chopper.” Now when I shared this experience with family, they thought I was invited to sit on a Harley motorcycle. This was better! I was traveling down the county road with Chad who was taking me into the field to harvest the corn.

The driver in this truck has to be fearless and watchful. Once in the field, you are looking for a behemoth of a machine known by farmers as the “chopper.” This machine has massive forks that slide between the corn stalks and pulls them into a center shoot that chops the corn at the rate of a thousand RPMs.

Chad’s experienced showed as he maneuvers his truck along side the chopper and carefully make sure his truck is under the device that tosses the chopped remains of the corn into the bed of his truck. Unlike the spoiled farmers out west with hundreds of flat acres, we are going up and down hills where it’s possible to get stuck in the mud. Chad follows along side the chopper for we have to keep up with this behemoth that races up and down the rows of corn.

It’s one thing to know how to drive a truck, but then you have to learn to drive up and down the hills of the field and then learn how to stay close to the chopper to catch all the stalks that are being crushed by this mean machine.

God’s invites us into his cab. He then takes us for a ride that has many twists and turns; there is some pain, some sadness, a few joys and even surprises. We need to be watchful and keep up where the Lord takes us.

I was told that not many people want to be drivers in the field during harvest. Just like not many people want to come inside church to learn what it means to travel with Jesus in this life.

Let me share that at one point I was told to get out of the truck and climb onboard the chopper. That ride in the chopper through the fields was awesome. So too, our journey with God is awesome if we remain watchful and ready to climb onboard.

Is God calling you today to serve in some way to bring his love and comfort to others?

God speaks to our hearts:“I will lead the blind by a road they do not know, by paths they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them.”(Isaiah 42:16).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshne Friends who accept Your invitation to climb onboard into your cab and journey with You down the road that leads to eternity life. May we be brave enough to follow You on our journey in life.

Expect the Unexpected

 

This weekend, I invited the children of the parish to come up into the sanctuary and help me tell a trickster story. The story a was about a Rabbit who challenged a Turtle to a race. Odd thing, the Turtle won with the help of his family members hiding in the tall grasses with their feathers. The children pretended to be Turtle holding their feathers, Rabbit was determined to win the race, so he plucked up the last few ounces of his strength and sprinted up the hill, passing the Turtle with the feather. As Rabbit rounded the last corner and braked to a halt in astonishment. Sitting by the stake, waving his feather proudly was Turtle. He had won the race!

The message is this: In Jesus Christ’s kingdom be prepared to expect and do the unexpected and put one over on the scoffers, the movers and the shakers. Be spiritually clever and live by the surprises of the gospel where people forgive seventy times seven, go two miles when forced to go one, return good for evil, pray for enemies, choose the last place, wash the feet of the slave, and throw banquets for the who can never possible repay. That will turn things upside down and unnerve your worldly masters.

Why? Because, to their amazement, you chose the road less traveled. You choose to live the paradoxes of the gospel and to that degree, in gospel terms, you have acted prudently.

Pope Francis’ vision for the church is an invitation to expect the unexpected. He shared that “the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds.... And you have to start from the ground up.”

God prays for us as we reflect: “When the unrighteous see them, they will be shaken with dreadful fear, and they will be amazed at the unexpected salvation of the righteous.” (Wisdom 5:2).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who do the unexpected and wait on their neighbors and strangers with the dignity of the Lord. Bless you for all the kindness and mercy you offer to those in need. Keep doing the unexpected!

Creative Flair

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Two floral designers, Mike and Frank have provided the leadership and inspiration for the local Rochester Floral Association for many years. They sponsored yearly workshops for local flower shops and designers to enhance their designer skills. I had been invited as chaplain to offer the invocation at their dinners and photographed their flower arrangements. Unfortunately, the Rochester Floral Association was disbanded this year in 2013 due to lack of support.

Rochester has long been known as the "Flower City." From where did this moniker come? Back in Rochester's early days, a man named George Ellwanger stumbled upon the infant city of Rochester, as he traveled the Erie Canal from Long Island to Ohio. He had just come over from Europe, and was on his way to learn English while staying with his Ohio relatives. On his brief visit, he noted that the area seemed prime for developing agricultural opportunities. He returned to the area in 1835, quickly taking over the Rochester Seed Store and Horticultural Repository, thanks to his agricultural background. One of his partners was another immigrant, Patrick Barry. Barry had also come over to the New World from Europe, and quickly found himself working in the agricultural industry in Rochester. Together, the men developed the Mount Hope Garden and Nurseries. The men were quickly recognized for having the best dahlias and cut flowers in the area. They became known throughout Upstate New York for their plants, which became hardier due to their location on Lake Ontario.

Later, they pushed to create locally prolific fruit trees in orchards. Orchards were already popular in the area, in part thanks to the efforts of Johnny Appleseed and the local Native American tribes. The success of these two men in propelling Rochester in the horticultural industry led to the nickname, "Flower City." Their legacy has led to numerous greenhouses and nurseries over the years, and a strong love for flowers.

Like these early pioneers, Mike and Frank have inspired florists to create incredible floral arrangements. Despite the demise of the floral association, I’m glad to share that their designer craft continues at Holy Family. In 2012, I took photos of our sanctuary and altar and asked Mike for his ideas on how to decorate the church. Several volunteers in the parish who I refer to as the “Liturgical Art Designer Team” started to decorate the sanctuary. This past Sunday, they designed beautiful autumn corn stalks on each side of the altar. The corn stalks are green and their intention is to continue to add to the display each week in the sanctuary focusing on the harvest of the local farms.

So to Mike and Frank, your legacy goes on despite the sadness of disbanding the association. Ask yourself, what creative flair has God blessed you with and how do you share that with others. Are you a woodworker, a painter, a railroad designer, bake apple pies, jam and jellies, or make a batch of ale or stir up a bottle of cabernet? Can you design a basket for the parish spaghetti supper raffle? Let’s get to work on your unique craft and let your creative juices flow. Yes, we do find God on a canvas, writing poetry, singing hymns, baking bread, anywhere our senses lead us to the Creator.

God prays for us as we reflect: “For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator.” (Wisdom 13:5).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who You have blessed with the gift of creativity. Let their flair for the divine shine bright and bring joy to all their family and friends.

Track of Faith

 

What track in life are you on this morning? Is it despair or fear? Do you prefer to travel alone? Or doubt that God exits? Or that Jesus really cares?

All tracks, our journey on this earth, lead to an empty tomb. The Teacher taught that God hears the cry of the poor. To be poor has nothing to do with how much we have piled up in our bank accounts or garages. But it is a reference to a student who is lost on an exam. They don’t have a clue how to solve the answer and worse they think that they know more than their teacher.

Michael, my brother-in-law, imitated his life after the Master teacher who taught a message of hope in times of death. Come away from your doubts, your anger, your pride and blame—anything that distracts you from the truth. Michael taught Literature for over 35 years and remembered the stories about the resurrection. The final gift Jesus shared with his disciples was “peace.” In Hebrew, “shalom” never denied the reality of suffering and the heartache of pain.

The Book of Wisdom teaches that from our grief, insanity of war, pain and disease comes new life. The resurrection stories that Mike read in his bible are real and not fiction. What track have you chosen to travel?

Mike taught his students to believe in themselves that their studies would prepare them how to live a life of holiness. The track that Mike laid down for us is called faith. His suffering had a purpose to make us a better people—more holy—compassionate, kind, forgiving, generous and grateful. Mike lived a life of holiness and Jesus has taken his hand and led him to the Station of Glory. In gratitude, we need to humble ourselves for people like Mike that God has given to us and believe!

One of Mike’s operating buddies at the funeral reception shared that Mike’s dad Charlie needed someone to help him build another train switch in heaven. When Mike arrived, his dad pulled up his son into heaven and the two are at their workbench building more train scenes and designing more switches to bring all their friends into the Station of Glory.    

As a special tribute to Mike, I found this Railroad Prayer on-line. Forgive me, but I have edited some of the phases and hope all our railroad friends enjoy!

"A Railroad Prayer"
Lord, now that I have flagged You down, I lift up my feet from the rough road of life and plant them safely on the deck of the train of salvation. Let me use the safety lamp known as prudence, and join all the couplings in the train with the strong arm of love. Let my hand lamp be Your message of love for all passengers who board this train. Heavenly Engineer keep all the switches closed that lead off to the sidings, especially those with a blind end. Lord of the track, have every semaphore block along the line show the white light of hope that I may make the run of life without stopping. Conductor of Life may your Beatitudes be our schedule for the journey. With Your guidance help us to finish on schedule and when we pull into the dark station of death, may the Station Master of  Heaven say, "Well done good and faithful traquero (railroad track worker), come and sign the payroll and receive the check of eternal happiness."

Humbled

I am humbled by sharing this reflection after learning this morning that my brother-in-law Michael has been taken into palliative care. His wonderful wife Irma has stood vigil over her “beloved” for the past two months after his third brain surgery to remove a growth that has entwined itself around his brain stem.

Michael has suffered since January battling chronic dizziness and nausea. Still, family and friends were praying and hopeful that God would bring this man comfort and heal him of his complications.

I wonder how many of you have felt disappointed by God or worse downright disgusted that the Creator did not rescue you from some serious medical condition or save you from a fall in life. It takes a” humble” person to pray “Your will be done, Lord.” But the God who failed to answer our prayers has us on our knees as we pray for those miracles or simply save us from another trauma that has overwhelmed us in life.

Are you simply being too needy? Do you think God has a purpose behind all our suffering and pain? The saints had their struggles with human weakness. Yet, their holiness had nothing to do with stuffing their tears, or putting aside their neediness to complain or get angry at God, rather, it came from their perseverance not to abandon the invitation to keep on praying for healing, understanding or a sense of peace. God sees every tear, hears every plea for mercy, and comes to be at our side when we are exhausted and empty.

The miracle comes in the form of family and friends and even medical providers who hear about our concerns and stand by us in a hospital room, or hospice or home to reassure us that we are not alone. God does not bring this any kind sorrow to make us stronger. That’s pure nonsense. Jesus was aware that the human condition has its share of suffering from chemical warfare, to downsizing, to watching family members slip into eternity.

The message for us “needy” people is to listen within our hearts to the voice of a confident, loving God who taught this message. Be at peace little one for you have nothing to fear. You will survive this journey with all its perils. God’s plan may break our heart because we need to surrender our beloved friends who have been a wonderful gift to us in this lifetime. God has power over death or why bother setting foot on this harsh planet to teach us that His love will prevail and not death.

What we humbly need is a heart and soul that believes this message of love and lots of loving hands to hold us up when we are falling apart.

Never fear for God is true to His promise and will raise us all up from our fears, our doubts, and our selfish desire to hand on to this life. In return, we will experience the surprise that brings comfort to our tears and peace to our troubled souls.

God watches over us as we pray: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.” (Proverbs 3:5).

Lord, I pray for Michael and Irma and all my dear Sonshine Friends who are experiencing a gut check moment. We pray for strength and the humility to place all our trust into your loving hands.

Err Message

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I was invited to do a photo shoot at a tractor pull in Alexander. The local fire chief works on the pit crew for a monster tractor that can pull tons of sled. To prepare for this assignment, I arrived early at the track to take some practice shots. I found a great location near the finish line when the tractors were pouring out smoke and grinding to a halt. While taking some samples, the shutter simply stopped taking photos. Odd this never happened before.

An “ERR” message appeared on top of the camera but I had no idea what to do next. I spun the dials, reset the default, said a desperate prayer, but the body only kept repeating the infamous “ERR” message.  Sadly, I told the chief that I was running home to check the manual and promised to return in time when his monster tractor was on the track. Back home, the instruction manual read: “When the “ERR’ appears take to your local dealer.” This was not good and I never did get back to the track to take photos of his tractor.

Now my camera mentors suggested that it was time to trade up to “another” new camera. Hold on people, I only had this D7000 model for 16 months. I whined and stomped my feet because I don’t like change. “But it would be good for me,” my mentor said. You could trade up to the D600 professional model. WOW! Now, I would be a pro. Broke and buying more equipment subject to random breakdowns. So, I consulted my options and found a used D600 and bite the bullet. Now I’m a real pro! However, another 200-page manual to review that will be my summer reading.

Now reflect with me for a minute. How many times are we forced to make changes we did not expect? When change happens we complain and pray, “let me be, Lord. I’m already comfortable where I work, live and worship. I don’t want to start over again.”

But there’s this little voice that nudges us in another direction. It’s the voice of God calling us to challenge the values of this world when they do not reflect his love. God invites us many times to take on new adventures that will potentially make us resilient and more in-tune with His spirit.

So what changes are you facing at this moment? A new camera model? Simple, just read the manual and quit complaining. Maybe your changes are more substantial. A new baby in your home, again? Another job change again? Going back to school again? A new health disease that demands our attention again. Worshipping in a new faith community, again.

God enjoys shaking up his creation so that we don’t get stale or bored. It’s His way to wake us up and pay attention beacuse a great shoot is coming our way. I will get that monster tractor photo next year or maybe at the next event.

God watches over us as we prayer: From morning to evening conditions change; all things move swiftly before the Lord.” (Sirach 18: 26).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are going through changes at this stage in their lives. Be it our health, job, career or relationship give us the wisdom to find our purpose and put ourselves into your loving hands.