Name:Jim Country:United States State:Missouri Metro:St. Louis Birthday:8/29/1977 Gender:Male
Interests:CARDINALS!!! St. Joe, LifeTEEN, Bowling, spending time with my family, friends, the teens at St. Joe (Love you all). Expertise:ME = GOOD with computers. :) Occupation:Computer related Industry:Medical
So we had a night on reverence on Sunday -- something that is always good to hear now and then. As the night went on and I listened to the CORE team talk as well as the teens sharing why they come to Mass and what distracts them. One thing that crossed my mind when the point was brought up about how we dress for Mass is -- when you go out for a nice dinner don't you dress up? So why don't most of us dress up for the most important banquet we will ever encounter here on earth? Something that only takes a fraction of our time here on earth? Doesn't God deserve it? I think so! You deserve to dress better everyday for yourself, others and most importantly God (the bible verse of the day sums this up the best. )
If you find yourself distracted at Mass I found two things that help me when I find myself not fully attentive (i.e. baby crying, others distract me, etc) - I either close my eyes or focus on the crucifx both help me to be in the Mass. I look forward every week for Mass - one to be with and recieve God - every week! I love being Catholic. Something I wish everyone could experience (and you can if you want. )
I pray that the reverence for the Mass becomes more important for everyone (around the world). I also pray that we treat our bodies with respect not just at Mass but everyday as it was created by God for us to do His work.
Random Fact of the Day - Michael Phelps is the only one who stands with more gold medals in Olympic history.
Patron Saint of the Day: St. Thomas Aquinas - patron saint of students, scholars, schools, learning, chasitity and much more. Click HERE for more.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
I can't believe that it's August and 2008 is more than half over. Some big changes are happening and prayers are always good. If you noticed the title - it says farewell Tom - it's with great sadness that we say goodbye to my friend, my brother in Christ, my closest to a brother for he has left St. Joe as the youth minister. We say goodbye but not for good because it is with great happiness to say that Tom has answered God's call in a new way as the coordinator for youth ministry for the Archdiocese. I, as well as many, wish Tom the best and pray that he does wonderful new things for the Archdiocese. I will say that this will bring changes to St. Joe and pray that whom ever comes in as the youth minister - comes in with his/her heart on fire for Christ. May God bless Tom, the new youth minister and the St. Joe community. St. John Bosco - pray for us.
For some more exciting news - I am going to be a God father for the first time! How exciting. I'll make you an offer you can't refuse (sorry I had to say it). I pray that I can show Christ to my God child. What an honor it is to have someone come up and tell you that they want you to be the one to sponser their child when they get baptised! How awesome is that! I pray that I can be the man of God that He is calling me to be for this child (left anonymous) as well as the man of God that He is calling me to be in all that I do.
Not much else really going on - work, church, eat, play, sleep. It doesn't sound like much and maybe even a little boring but I'm happy with where I am at and pray that what ever comes in my way or where God is leading me that His will be done in my life.
Oh, one other thing I finally went to the movies recently and you guessed it saw - the new movie Batman "The Dark Knight" - very good movie. It's ashame that Health Ledger is dead, because he was amazing in the role of the Joker. May the soul of Heath Ledger (and all the faithfully departed) rest in peace, Amen. Eternal rest grant to him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
Random Fact of the Day - it's been Shark week on the Discovery channel so... - Did you know that more people die from fallen coconuts than they do shark bites! That's insane!
Bible Verse of the Day - Psalm 119:130 - "The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.”
Saint of the Day - St. John Bosco - Patron saint of youth and MORE. Click HERE for more
Do you want our Lord to give you many graces? Visit him often. Do you want him to give you few graces? Visit him seldom. Visits to the Blessed Sacrament are powerful and indispensable means of overcoming the attacks of the devil. Make frequent visits to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and the devil will be powerless against you.
Hey all, STJ and myself just got back from our fall retreat and I thought it was AWESOME (hopefully you did too - those that could go). This year we chose the theme based off Louie Giglio's Book "Wired - for a life of worship". A great book - not only does it talk about how we are made to worship but has scripture and a 30 day journey in it - a must read for those that want to be "wired" (or re-"wired") for Christ and all that He has done for us.
I pray that God continues to grow in our lives and that we continue to give Him thanks and praise for all that He has done for us. The next time you say you don't have time for God (either homework, work, sports, TV, tired, etc.) just think about all that He has endured for us and has given us; Is giving Him anywhere from 10-15 mins (of prayer) to an hour (for mass, youth group, adoration, etc.) -- all that big of a deal? I don't think so. We are made to worship...
May God bless each and everyone of you and that God continues to shine thru you.
Random fact of the day: The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
Saint of the Day: St. Francis Xavier - patron saint of parish missions, plague epidemics and more. Click HERE to read more.
Prayer by Saint Francis Xavier
Eternal God, Creator of all things, remember that You alone has created the souls of unbelievers, which You have made according to Your Image and Likeness. Behold, O Lord, how to Your dishonor many of them are falling into Hell. Remember, O Lord, Your Son Jesus Christ, Who so generously shed His Blood and suffered for them. Do not permit that Your Son, Our Lord, remain unknown by unbelievers, but, with the help of Your Saints and the Church, the Bride of Your Son, remember Your mercy, forget their idolatry and infidelity, and make them know Him, Who You have sent, Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Lord, Who is our salvation, our life, and our resurrection, through Whom we have been saved and redeemed, and to Whom is due glory forever. Amen.
HOLY CRIPES! It's been too long since my last entry, hopefully I can get back into the routine again (thanks for the shove 'Voice of Truth'. So what's happened in the past few months -- A LOT! Carrie and I celebrated our 1st Anniversary (hard to believe that it's been a year -- time flies!). I look forward to sending the rest of my life with her. The past few months at work have been crazy, I mean over the summer we are talking about 60 to 70 hour weeks! I did not like that but things are starting to calm down again, thank the Lord! So I guess the most exciting thing that happened over the summer was Steubenville and meeting Fr. Stan and Righteous B (oh and I guess my birthday - hit a milestone today)! How cool was that. Very awesome people of God and talented too (in more ways than one).
Well I will have to write more later. But I wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! May God bless each and every one of you and now that I am very thankful that you are in my life.
now a funny one.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are Loved.
Random Fact of the Day - Turkey has a chemical in it that causes you to get sleepy (triptophan)
Saint of the Day: St. Albert of Louvain - read more here
Thanksgiving
1 Corinthians 1:4-5 I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge
Happy Easter everyone! Alleluia! He has risen! It has been awhile since I've update so let me begin...
I wanted to thank all who donated to my MS campaign. I didn't hit my goal that I set ($2500) but I did hit the goal that the Gateway Chapter here in St. Louis wanted me to hit ($2007)! I raised over $2120 and have many to thank for this. I received an award and will have my picture and bio in the Business Journal in a few weeks! So that was some exciting news. Here is the award I received (not a very good pic)...
Goal: $2,007.00 Achieved: $2,120.00
Now for the crazy story of the week - About a month ago or so we had a squirrel problem at our place to make a long story short it chewed a hole in the ceiling and caused some wiring damage to so of our outlets. Well after having someone from the Wildlife Removal come out and take care of that problem and get our ceiling fixed. Another hole showed up in the ceiling, I couldn't believe it and wasn't sure what it was. I thought maybe a bird because I could hear squeaking and I saw pine needles (like it was a nest). Well I had Marty (nice guy and if you ever need any unwanted animals just let me know and I can refer you to him) from Wildlife Removal come out and take a look and hopefully get rid of this problem all together. Well he came on Saturday at about 11:30am and was here til about 1:30 but to my amazement it was birds in our ceiling it was 5 squirrels (1 momma and 4 little ones)!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it...and I didn't think you would either so here's the proof...
2 littles ones here...
Momma...
another little one here (man this one was pretty PO'ed)...
and the last little one here...
Don't worry none of them were/will be harmed he has to take them to another county and release them. I couldn't believe it. So pretty crazy week/weekend. Got an award, got rid of squirrel problem and Easter with the two fams. Work has been SUPER busy and not gonna be letting up either. But I am on a different schedule now - I work 4 10's now and off on Fridays and am LOVING it. So I can't complain. Well now I am going to go play racquetball with the wife so I will update more later. Hope you are having a good week. Take care and I will talk/see/update you all later.
You are Loved.
Random Fact of the Day - Squirrels chew on tree branches to sharpen and clean their teeth. That's why you may see many small branches on the ground around large trees. They will also chew on power lines for the same reason, this has caused many major power outages throughout the country. (or in our apartment!)
St. Anthony - Patron saint of lost articles. Read more HERE.
Hebrews 1:3 "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven."
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If you noticed the title - it says farewell Tom - it's with great sadness that we say goodbye to my friend, my brother in Christ, my closest to a brother for he has left St. Joe as the youth minister. We say goodbye but not for good because it is with great happiness to say that Tom has answered God's call in a new way as the coordinator for youth ministry for the Archdiocese. I, as well as many, wish Tom the best and pray that he does wonderful new things for the Archdiocese. I will say that this will bring changes to St. Joe and pray that whom ever comes in as the youth minister - comes in with his/her heart on fire for Christ. May God bless Tom, the new youth minister and the St. Joe community. St. John Bosco - pray for us.
