Towering trees at Brown County State Park in Indiana Picture by Jerry Torres
The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest
Thus says the LORD:
This is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then light shall rise for you in darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
Emphasis & Underlines mine: Isaiah 58:6-11
Well this has been an unusual day. Early this morning I left for a fasting blood test for my physical and this interrupted the normal routine I have on Mondays. Unfortunately, after arriving at the facility to give blood, the test was cancelled because my doctors didn’t call in for the test to be done.
As I started this blog I was also on hold on my phone for the Doctor’s office to get them to schedule a new test.
But,
I just noticed I am at Peace!
The first part of the reading that jumped out at me was the Centered section (above). But no, this wasn’t what The Holy Spirit wanted. We reread the scripture readings and what the Holy Spirit wanted jumped out at me.
God has my back.
And,
Frankly, I now expect God will have my back, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love our relationship and only want to grow in that relationship.
Getting here has taken eight-five years. As I look back, I clearly see where I fell down, and, with the grace of God, was able to pick up and continue on. I’m realizing as I get older that the Love, Joy and Peace I experience when I am doing my Father’s will offsets everything else I may encounter from the world. In fact, I now reject the world’s teachings and ways that contradict God’s morality and enJoy my peace and joy.
Knowing that the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard really fills me with Joy.
Question: who else would you want?
Prayer:
If you want to grow in Love, Joy, Peace this is a result of growth in Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.
Sidebar:
As I think we mentioned earlier, Gail and I have started riding our bikes once again. One of our goals this year is to ride an eighteen mile loop from our condo to Bug Light and back.
One of the reasons we bought our condo was so we could ride the Eastern Trail from our Condo South to Saco, a fourteen mile loop. When a connector section was added, we will not ride on streets, we could now ride to bug light, North, and back.
Sunday, I had a feeling I should walk instead of riding the bike. I was almost done when I saw a man walking his dog. When I asked him how he was he replied, “Fantastic!”
I must admit I got a high because I really believe you are who you say you are, and how many times do you hear I’m “Fantastic” from anyone (and that’s always my response)?
At church on Saturday I was introduced to another parishioner who asked me how I was. I of course said, “Fantastic”! The parishioner said you’re always Fantastic, and we responded, “Life is a choice, and I choose to be Fantastic, and I fully believe we are who we say we are”.
He thought about it for a minute and said he was Fantastic.
Nick, a fellow parishioner, myself, and maybe this man will tell others at our church they are “Fantastic”, and who knows, in time we may have a Fantastic parish, and what effect would that have on our church? I believe a huge change.
I also now fully believe that we can make a change in this world. It may only be one person a time, but that person can have an effect on another, and the ball gets rolling.
Don’t let satan convince you that you are too small or insignificant. With God having your back you are a lot more powerful than you might be able to imagine.
I do know the first person in our neighborhood we told this to, and we commented about this in a previous blog, and he and his wife and now another neighbor are Fantastic.
On that street that afternoon two people were Fantastic!
It’s a start.
Picture:
Towering trees at Brown County State Park in Indiana Picture by Jerry Torres
Please keep Snapping!
And if you want the ten calling cards shown above, email me and I will send you my address, send me a STAMPED self-addressed envelope and I will send you ten cards.
The offer for the cards is sadly for American readers only. The Post office won’t accept foreign stamps.
If you want a copy of the prayers we discussed.
Send an email to: fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, please do not include people. We have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
Disclaimer:
We decided to share with you that I do use Google AI for spelling, punctuation, and helping me find a Bible verse. BUT we go to the Bible to print out the verse we find. If we do use Google AI it will be noted. I believe in a while this type of disclaimer will be needed on all created works.
