Sunset over Lake Michigan at Lake Street Beach.
The heavens proclaim the glory of the Lord. – Psalm 19:2
Picture by Jerry Torres
The Holy Spirit inspires our blog.
Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Extraordinary Time
R. You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation.
God indeed is my savior;
I am confident and unafraid.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
With joy you will draw water
at the fountain of salvation.
R.
Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name;
among the nations make known his deeds,
proclaim how exalted is his name.
R.
Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;
let this be known throughout all the earth.
Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel!
R.
Emphasis mine Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6
When I was a teenager (a very long time ago) we sang a song written by the Weavers and some of the lyrics were:
When I was a young man and never been kissed I got to thinking it over how much I had missed,
So I got me a gal and kissed her and then oh lordy I kissed her again, because she had kisses sweeter than wine.
And,
This song applies to my relationship with the Triune God.
In my younger years God was up there and I was down here. I would think “Leave me alone, I can handle it”, but in reality when I needed their help, and, after receiving their help, I threw God under the bus and went on without Them.
This, as we have discussed, is not a relationship.
I next changed to doing God’s will when I agreed with what God wanted.
This is still not a relationship.
As we have reported, in November 2010, at age seventy, The Holy Spirit and I had a wrestling match, and after three hours I realized the Holy Spirit was not going to quit until I agreed to change.
Which I reluctantly agreed to.
And what did God ask of me:
Sell the business I had owned for thirty-six years.
Sell the house we had lived in for forty eight years.
Retire, and I had worked since age fourteen.
Continue with the jail ministry.
Continue with Golf. because the four of us play. *
- 10/15/26 Our Third Hole in one on a par 4, 304 yards!
For the past 20 years I’ve been playing the same course, which would be over 1,000 rounds. I’ve noticed +on the third hole, a drain that was level with the ground – square 4 x 4 with approximately 16 square holes in it. It was about 120 yards from where we teed off.
I always said if I put a ball in this drain I would count it as a hole in one.
Playing golf the other day We scored a 5 on the first hole (Bogie) and a 7 on the second hole (Double Bogie).
As we were walking to the third hole, I, yes I had the thought, “Here we go again hitting a score between 18 to 21 on the first three holes.”
I drove the ball, knew about where it landed, but couldn’t find it, and realized that it was in the drain, which Joe, in our group, confirmed.
Hole in one!!!
Later that day I added up my score for the first three holes and it was 13 and 13 is par for the first three holes!!!
We ended with a 44, my best score in a few years.
Why are we talking about this?
As you know I believe in a God of Outrageous Love. That also infers that God is also a God of SURPRISES and the Surprise for me was making a Hole in One after a 1,000 tries, after I had had the thought (satan) I couldn’t do it, and also get a score below 16 for the first three holes, and to drive the point home scoring a par (13) total for the three holes something I has also NEVER DONE IN 20 YEARS.
And,
This also falls on the heels of the surprises I experienced, as we have reported for the past two blogs, with Honor Flight Maine.
The fool would say this was lucky.
I say this is a relationship. A relationship with a God of Outrageous Love who is full of surprises.
Continuing with what God told me to do:
Write a book, we have now written eight, and I really enJoy (Love that word) writing.
Write a weekly blog, we are now completing our fifth year.
Hold a Communion Service at the Veterans Home in Scarborough, which we started before Covid.
Join and become active in Honor Flight Maine. Because of the changes that took place in me because of this trip, which we have written about, there was no hesitation on my part in becoming involved.
As we have reported not one of the above works, except Honor Flight Maine, did I say, “Yes,” too but I grudgingly agreed to do, and now would consider life to be empty if I wasn’t doing them now.
All of them have the same prayer offered before we undertake the task of speaking or writing, “Give me the words Father, for your glory not mine.”
And,
Because of this I now realize My strength and my courage is the LORD, is sweeter than going it alone.
And,
I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Prayer:
When satan knocks at your door, Pray: “Jesus for you.”
Sidebar:
In our last two blogs we broke the prayer for Humility in three parts. The third part reads:
O Jesus meek and humble of heart, hear me (Only mentioned once)
That others may be loved more than I, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it
That others may be esteemed more than I, ….
That, in the opinion of the world, that others may increase and I decrease, ….
That others may be chosen, and I set aside,….
That others may be praised and I unnoticed,….
That others may be preferred to me in everything,….
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as Holy as I should, ….
Once again, I flunked all of these petitions, but I didn’t have any experience during the Honor flight similar to what I had on the first two sections, so we printed the third section so you will have the complete prayer.
Actually, we broke down the prayer into three parts, and low and behold readers have been drawn to it.
Thank you Father!
Please keep snapping and sending pictures!
I have had people tell me they don’t read the blog but enJoy the pictures, which is why we changed the format.
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.
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 discuss.
Send an email to: fprince101@gmail.com
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 (GAI). I believe in a while this type of disclaimer will be needed on all created works.
