Pink Nuns

reposted from StL Today 

During the day, the blocks surrounding the Mount Grace Convent seem to reflect the tranquility inside the cloister walls. With the exception of the hum of traffic on nearby Interstate 70 and the church bells that ring hourly, it’s a quiet neighborhood.

But as night falls, that all changes.

Gunfire fills the air. Police cruisers roam the College Hill neighborhood, officers frequently stopping to talk to those on the streets. City leaders often refer to this northeast neighborhood as one of the city’s most dangerous.

Inside the convent, 24 cloistered nuns pray.

The order, better known as the Pink Sisters because of the color of their habits, prays around the clock. Since the convent and chapel opened in 1928, there has always been at least one sister kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament.

“This place is much different,” said Sister Mary Catherine Smith, who came here 50 years ago. The superior of the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters, Smith said the neighborhood changes began in the early 1980s when a guard had to be posted outside the chapel.

“Things started to get bad. People were getting accosted.”

Visitors returning from prayer in the chapel would find their cars broken into, she said. The chapel, once open 24 hours, now closes when the sun goes down. Copper thieves have stolen guttering at Mount Grace, but the sisters themselves have not had any problems.

“The Lord has really been protecting us,” Smith said.

The changes made by the sisters reflect the decades-long decline of the neighborhood. A recent spate of violence has made College Hill a priority for police.

Two weeks ago, about 80 police officers converged on the troubled neighborhood, where Police Chief Sam Dotson pledged saturation of law enforcement until the violence stops.

At least three murders have occurred in the neighborhood this year, as well as other shootings. The violence outside the convent does not go unnoticed inside the convent.

“We hear gunshots, oh yes, and we pray nothing happens here,” Smith said. She has a good relationship with the police sergeant who works the neighborhood. Smith has his cellphone number but hopes she won’t have to use it.

The sisters are known as perpetual adorers, lifting up in prayer the needs of every heart. That can be a heavy burden, but it’s one to which the nuns have committed their lives. About 400 nuns share the mission at 21 other Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters convents around the world.

The sisters living here at the 2½-acre compound are from the Philippines, Germany, Holland, Brazil, Puerto Rico and the U.S. They range in age from 30 to 91. They seldom leave the immaculate grounds, restricting most of their outdoor visits to a large garden surrounded by a tall stone wall. The cloister sustains itself financially through donations for daily prayers.

The sisters pray for the safety of those in wars around the world. They pray for a “good successor” to Pope Benedict XVI, who is resigning Feb. 28. They pray for the priests who guide congregations.

And they pray for the safety of their neighborhood.

WEB-SAVVY NUNS

Prayer requests come in various forms, including email.

“Prayer requests received through this Web site cannot be acknowledged in writing, but be assured that we are remembering them before the Blessed Sacrament,” states the convent site. “We are pleased to join our prayers to yours for the intentions that you submit to us.”

The nuns keep watch on the outside world by subscribing to the Post-Dispatch and reading news on the Internet.

“We know our current needs,” Smith said. There is never a short prayer list.

The Rev. Tom Krosnicki serves as chaplain at Mount Grace and lives next door to the nuns. He walks the neighborhood daily, serving as eyes and ears for the sisters, who leave for little else than medical appointments. They vote absentee.

(Eleven of the sisters did, however, attend the Mass delivered by Pope John Paul II at the Edward Jones Dome during his visit to St. Louis in January 1999. Their prayers at that time implored God to bring good weather.)

The role of the sisters is an important one, Krosnicki said, but is not enough to turn around a crumbling part of the city.

“Prayer is important, but there are some systemic problems that have to be addressed,” he said. “Family life, education and jobs.”

Krosnicki said his walks are restricted to daylight.

“I normally won’t go out after dark. It’s just not advisable,” he said. He stops teens and asks why they are not in school.

“They always have excuses,” Krosnicki said.

An architecture buff, he is disheartened by the decay of a once impressive housing stock, much of it boarded up or falling down. Buildings such as Lowell School and St. James Church of Christ sit vacant.

At a standing-room-only community meeting this month at the new recreation center in nearby O’Fallon Park, Alderman Antonio French said too few neighborhood anchors remain.

French attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help School at 20th Street and Linton Avenue, a few blocks from Mount Grace Convent and Chapel. It closed in the early 1990s, just after French graduated from eighth grade.

“I immediately noticed after it closed, the neighborhood going down,” French said. The key to getting the neighborhood back on track, he said, is to reopen shuttered buildings and provide recreation and education opportunities.

“If you believe at all in the broken window theory, almost every window in College Hill is broken,” French said. “It shows that no one cares about the neighborhood. Buildings with only three of the four walls standing. They need to be torn down, the green space beautified and make it look cared for.”

INSIDE THE CLOISTER

One of the most beautiful green spaces in the neighborhood is the convent garden, surrounded by a towering stone wall and off-limits to the public. The view to the outside is mainly of rooftops.

Even that restricted view gives a clear picture: Gutters dangling, chimneys leaning, shingles gone.

Visitors to the convent are buzzed in and met in the lobby by a nun peering through a small window in a door. They are directed to a parlor off the lobby. A few minutes later, the superior sister enters, talking with visitors through a wall of clear plastic lattice work.

When the nuns pray in the chapel, they do so at the altar. A gate separates them from the rest of the sanctuary, where at any time during the day a few people slide into a pew to pray. An electronic counter tallies just more than 600 visitors in the 90 hours a week the chapel is open.

Cloistered nuns dedicate themselves to a life of isolation so they can devote their time to prayer. Smith pauses only slightly when asked if she and the other nuns get lonely.

“The Lord is a great companion,” she said. The nuns have a social time each day, but their TV is seldom used. They watched Stan Musial’s Mass and plan to watch the election of a new pope and his installation.

The nuns have a blog, but the last entry wished visitors a Merry Christmas.

French said the increased police presence seems to be paying off, and he’s grateful for the support.

“If they get the three or four (people) at the center of it all, everything will calm down,” French said. “The real test is going to be what happens when (police) reduce their presence.”

Meanwhile, the nuns at Mount Grace will be praying. As their website states: “Every distress and hardship in the world should find a vigorous response in our prayer.”

French, raised in Catholic school, is not one to argue with that position.

“Everybody’s got their own approach,” he said. “Surely, we accept prayers.”

http://www.mountgraceconvent.org/home.html

Are you ready?

Most have you have likely heard the popular praise song "Come Now Is the Time To Worship". It is a lovely song and it can be a powerful and effective way to lead people in worship. But there is a problem with this song. There is one line that is deeply flawed in it's attitudes towards worship.

"Come just as you are to worship"

It sounds right to our ears. God will take us no matter how broken and love us despite our sins. That is all true of course. It is told very clearly in the tradition hymn, "Just as I Am". This songs talks about absolutely helpless state at which we fall before the cross. But this is not was "Come Now" is talking about.

It is not talking about salvation, it is not about accepted Christ as our Savior. "Come Now" is about worship. It is about it being time to praise God. Should this really be done "just as we are"? No we should prepare for worship. We should prepare for worship and enter into it as the Holy thing that it is. Israelite priests had to undergo extensive rituals in order to cleanse themselves and prepare their hearts to bring the gifts to the alter.

When bring our gift of praise to the alter should we do so "just as we are"?

The Genre Game

When I was younger I played in a variety of bands. None of them coming anywhere near the success I dreamed about alone in my room with my guitar. I imagined concerts all over the world and interviews with Rolling Stone and 7ball . I rehearsed the answers to every question imaginable.

Of course one question that would come up would be if we called ourselves a Christian band. My well-rehearsed answer was that we were simply a band of Christians. I'm pretty sure I had no idea what that meant then either.

I do know that I didn't want to write nothing but praise choruses. I want to write lovesongs and songs about pain and art. I was afraid that if our records were sold at One Way or in the Christian section at Where House music that somehow our art would be stifled. And my fears weren't without precedent. The Prayer Chain's Bendy Line and POD's cover for the Fundamental Elements of Southtown showed how the Christian music industry can handle controversy.

When it all comes down to it though I do not know that God cares at all about these kind of labels. This is the God who inspired the Psalms and the Song of Solomon. This is the God who designed the Temple and the Grand Canyon. Whatever we call it anything that can bring glory to God is well deserving of the label "Christian"

The 3 hardest words to say

As with most 3 1/2 year old's my son is full of questions. Some of them make no sense at all and others make me wonder what my wife has been telling him. The worst of all are the questions that I don't have an answer to. Answering him with "I don't know" is never enough. That usually just sends him into a fit of "but tell me Daddy!"

I've thought about making up answers just to appease him but I can't help but fear that that will do some kind of irreparable damage down the line. So I say the 3 hardest words to say "I don't know". We all fear admitting that we're inadequate in any way. Acknowledging that there are things about which we do not know we fear will lessen our standing with others.

So we make it up. Or we just regurgitate what we have heard someone else saying without forming any real opinion of our own. We see this when discussing politics all the time. We might not truly know anything about gun control or healthcare but we know where our party lines lie so we recite the Facebook post we saw about it. Usually there is little harm there (unless your a Senator perhaps). The worst that usually comes of this is some raised tempers.


But when it comes to our Faith this can become a much more dangerous habit. We debate theology and doctrine without knowing what we are really saying. We quote Pastors and books as if they were undeniable truth. Yet the only real truth is that we don't know.

What power there is in those 3 words. "I don't know". God never commands us to have all the answers. He tells us to seek the truth but if we're pretending we know it all how will we ever be able to find it. Can we begin to admit that "I don't know" and not be afraid to ask the questions.

Dirty Laundry

That there are factions within Christianity is surely a surprise to no one. Protestants and Catholics have been at odds for centuries. Calvinists and Arminianists are always up for a debate. And nothing stirs it up like liberal and conservative Christians being in the same room.

My personal belief is this is a good thing. A healthy debate can inspire to dig deeply into the Word and search for God's truth. We may pray and meditate on the things about which we disagree. We may never reach an agreement but we will surely get closer to God.

But should these debates be had outside the church? Should we show our discord to the world at large? While the answer may be up to the individual to decide I'm sure that we can all agree that the bickering and spite we often launch at each other in the name of dogma does nothing more than to drive people away.

Commandments of Naismith

One of the biggest excuses people often give for not following Christ is that there are too many rules. They complain that they can't do this or can't do that. They feel they will not be able to live their lives the way they want, so burdened down by all these rules.

Yet, you never hear anyone say the same about basketball. They never say they would play if only they didn't have to dribble the ball, or stay in bounds, or not tackle the other players. If everyone just did whatever they wanted the game would be unplayable. Between people running around the court like madmen and the fights that would be sure to break out many people would just quit playing.

In sports the rules aren't burdening, they're freeing. They ensure we're all playing the same game. They make the game worth playing

Chaplain Kapaun

Story from : http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/kapaun

"Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun, while assigned to Headquarters Company, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism, patriotism, and selfless service between Nov. 1-2, 1950. During the Battle of Unsan, Kapaun was serving with the 3rd Battalion of the 8th Cavalry Regiment. As Chinese Communist forces encircled the battalion, Kapaun moved fearlessly from foxhole to foxhole under direct enemy fire in order to provide comfort and reassurance to the outnumbered Soldiers. He repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to recover wounded men, dragging them to safety. When he couldn't drag them, he dug shallow trenches to shield them from enemy fire. As Chinese forces closed in, Kapaun rejected several chances to escape, instead volunteering to stay behind and care for the wounded. He was taken as a prisoner of war by Chinese forces on Nov. 2, 1950.

After he was captured, Kapaun and other prisoners were marched for several days northward toward prisoner-of-war camps. During the march Kapaun led by example in caring for injured Soldiers, refusing to take a break from carrying the stretchers of the wounded while encouraging others to do their part.

Once inside the dismal prison camps, Kapaun risked his life by sneaking around the camp after dark, foraging for food, caring for the sick, and encouraging his fellow Soldiers to sustain their faith and their humanity. On at least one occasion, he was brutally punished for his disobedience, being forced to sit outside in subzero weather without any garments. When the Chinese instituted a mandatory re-education program, Kapaun patiently and politely rejected every theory put forth by the instructors. Later, Kapaun openly flouted his captors by conducting a sunrise service on Easter morning, 1951.

When Kapaun began to suffer from the physical toll of his captivity, the Chinese transferred him to a filthy, unheated hospital where he died alone. As he was being carried to the hospital, he asked God's forgiveness for his captors, and made his fellow prisoners promise to keep their faith. Chaplain Kapaun died in captivity on May 23, 1951.

Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun repeatedly risked his own life to save the lives of hundreds of fellow Americans. His extraordinary courage, faith and leadership inspired thousands of prisoners to survive hellish conditions, resist enemy indoctrination, and retain their faith in God and country. His actions reflect the utmost credit upon him, the 1st Cavalry Division, and the United States Army."

Pride of Fools

In my younger days I was a bit of a scene kid. Of course this was when baggy pants were still ok for scene kids, thank God. But I would be at shows constantly. If there was a band I knew playing I was there. I got to know some of the bands and even became friends with a few.

If there is a group of people more egoistical than local musicians in can only be the people who follow them. Most of these bands were playing in dive bars and skating rinks but either acted like they were playing at Red Rocks. Even worse were the ones who acted like they preferred to play these tiny holes for no money because they were "artist". And of course for those of us following these bands it was all about following the right ones and being and the most shows.

There was one glaring exception to this however. There was one band I followed who were different. They weren't local but still on and indie label at the time. The first time I saw P.O.D. play was at the Cornerstone Festival. The absolutely rocked a tent with close to 500 people in it and then concluded the concert by singing choruses and taking communion. When I had a chance to speak with the lead singer Sonny, the lead singer, after the show I told him what a great show it was. He said thanks and that he hope that God was using their music to touch our lives.

At another Cornerstone Festival they announced that they were being signed to Atlantic Records. This was a huge deal for an indie Christian band. After the show I told Sonny congratulations and he again said thanks, but he said that he really felt that this would throw the band into the lions den but it was the best way to get their message out to the most people.

Then a few months later I saw them play a show opening for the local band The Urge. After their set we walked back to their bus and Sonny was so excited that they had had chances to share the Gospel with the Urge's lead singer.

While I don't know Sonny personally every chance I have had to talk with him he was in a prime position to brag on himself. He was coming off of a great accomplishment that most would have boasted of. But all he wanted to talk about was what God was doing.

How often do we want to brag about the smallest things we have done while not giving god the glory for the miraculous works He has done.

History of Grace

Almost every denomination of Christianity has periods in its past that it is not proud of. Catholics have the Crusades and the Inquisition. All sides are guilty of atrocities during the Reformation. The Southern Baptist supported slavery. And just about all of us have been guilty of oppressing and abusing those of other faiths from time to time.

So what do we do with these sordid pasts? Should we not talk about them, pretend they never happened? Should we whitewash them and say "it was a different time" or talk about "historical context"?

Perhaps we should treat sins of the church as God wants us to treat our own sins. We should not deny them or excuse them but rather give God the glory for delivering us from them. Our churches should not worry about bad press but be thankful for God's grace. 

The God Test

Most Christians I know can point to one difficult season in their life or another and say "God was testing me".  We see it as a chance to prove ourselves to God, and if most people are like me they fail more often than not.

But sometimes we test God too. We don't like to say that of course, that sounds disrespectful. So we call it doubt. We say that we're struggling with doubt but often that is not really what we're doing. We're testing God.

We get tested to see if we will keep to our word. We say we will follow God and trust in Him no matter what so when we are tested we are forced to prove it. God has made numerous promises to us. He promised to always be with us, to never give us more than we can handle, that all things will work for good. So when we're "doubting" we really testing God to see if He'll keep His word.

And I think God's ok with that. I think God enjoys the chance to prove Himself to us. He must because I know He has done it again and again in my life. 

DNA

A friend of mine recently got the result from his Genographic Project DNA test. While there is a lot of data for him still to wade through there is one thing he has found out so far. He has Viking blood coursing through his veins.

I really hope to participate in the project at some point but I'm afraid I won't find Viking blood, or Scottish, or something else fun and instead it'll be French or Swiss.

I think as Americans we are particularly fascinated with our ancestry. Few of us have a truly homogeneous background. We're made up of people from all over the world (or at least Europe). So the idea of "where we come from" is a lingering question.

Where we come from though is an easy question to answer. We are created by God, made in His image, and it is the spilled blood of Jesus that fills our hearts.

Comma Mistakes

Commas one of the most ubiquitous yet misused things in our society. English teachers from middle school to grad school burn through gallons of red ink marking off comma errors. I have certainly given them headaches for this myself. Yet the comma can be infinitely important. There's the infamous panda who eats, shoots, and leaves.

When it comes to scripture their role can be even more crucial. But there is a problem with this, ancient Greek didn't have commas. Certainly there are times where the comma placement can be easily determined but how often did we get this wrong. And more importantly what does it mean if we did.

Let's take Romans 8:28 for example. The way it is written in English Bibles is "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

Pretty straight forward. Things work out for Gods people. But what if there was supposed to another comma a bit later? What if it was supposed to read as "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called, according to His purpose."

Suddenly the meaning of that verse changes. It's all about "according to His purpose". That phrase no longer describes those who were called, now it describes how things will work together for good. It could be written this way as well: "And we know that all things work together for good according to His purpose to them that love God, to them who are called."

What a difference that little dot with a tail can make.

God Of Wonders: Moonlit Mountain

The mountains of Nepal lit only by the moon and the stars. How much brighter doth the son shine.

Writer's Block

The last few days I've really struggled with writing posts. I'll come up with a nugget of an idea but I'm not able to flesh it out or keep it from running down a rabbit trail. Writer's block can be so frustrating.

I can't help but wonder, did the writer's of the Gospels suffer from writer's block? Did Paul? If they were receiving inspiration from the Holy Spirit did that inspiration ever dry up? If so what would that mean?

You could not help but feel that your relationship with God has suffered when He is no longer speaking through you. And this is not only for writers and artists. For anyone who is trying to serve God we suffer from periods of writers block. Our ministry is struggling, or failing to get off the ground. We search and search for a spark but none is there.

When God does not speak to us it can be a deafening silence. Sometimes we try to force His voice. We speak but He is not in it. Other times we give up. We feel that God has abandoned us or isn't with us in our mission so we move on. 

But is that what He means, how can we know? How much more comforting would it be to know that Paul got writer's block too.

I Will Follow (most places)

For a long time I said that I would be willing to serve God wherever He wanted me. Of course I was picturing living in a village in Papua New Guinea or digging wells in Africa. But there's a pretty good chance He never really wanted me in those places.

When it comes to serving Him here at home I'm much less ready to go. I'm prepared for God to send me into the wild, into the dangerous. It's the mundane and boring that I struggle with. While I've had my eyes set on a grand adventure around the world God has been asking why I haven't been doing more here at home.

If I'm prepared to go wherever God sends me am I prepared if I'm already there? What if my mission field is my office, what if my natives are my neighbors. When I tell God I'd be willing to serve Him wherever He leads there are always been a few implies "excepts" in that statement.

Are you prepared to follow God wherever He leads you? What are your "except that one" mission fields? Are they far from home or are they next door?

Black Smoke

As the College of Cardinals have entered the Conclave the international news has been hard at work covering this historic event. They have discussed who the front-runners are and what odds they are being given. They've talked about the process of the election and why the Cardinals will or will not vote for a certain person. And of course they've talked about the clothes.

I am glad I am not one of these Cardinals. While I hope that I would earnestly and prayerfully listen to who God has called for the position I am sure my own mind would get in the way. I would think about what direction they would likely take the Church and if that is the direction I would like to see it move. I would think about their "marketability" and would an Italian, African, Asian, or American help the Church grow the most.

Or would I be angling for the job myself? Would ambition and vanity get the better of me? It probably would, it has on much smaller scales.

When we are in a position to lead or choose a leader in our own ministries what guides us? Is it the Holy Spirit that motivates our actions or is it our own desires to have things our way that moves us?

Homeless

A few years ago I went on a mission trip to Seattle where I helped a ministry working with street kids in the area. While there I learned quite a lot about homelessness in America. Among all the details of what life is like on the street I learned two key things to look at if you are trying to tell if someone is truly homeless or just scamming for money.


#1 - The shoes. Someone who lives on the street will obviously not have money to buy new clothes. In addition they spend much of their days in their shoes, walking around. So a homeless person's shoes will likely be extremely worn and weathered. They will have many a hard mile on them.

#2 - The watch. Homeless people don't have watches. Why would they? It is unlikely they have to be anywhere at a precise time and any watch they had could be sold for much needed cash.

What a beautiful image of a Christian that paints. Shoes worn through from following God. They're beaten from the long journey but not broken. And no need to worry about hours or minutes. God will work all things according to His time, not ours.

Many of the people we worked with in Seattle were homeless due to circumstances not finances. They had run from abuse, had fallen prey to drugs and alcohol, or something else had pushed them out of their homes. So too we're homeless here in this world, far from our true home because of sin. But one day we can go home where we will be welcomed by our Heavenly Father and we can run barefoot on the streets of gold and ever minute will shine as bright as the sun.

Sound Check

If you've ever watched someone working a soundboard you'll see them adjusting all kinds of  knobs and sliders, tweaking and fine tuning the sound. All of this makes no perceptible difference for most of the people in attendance. But to an experienced audio engineer they can tell when a certain frequency is not quite right. To them it's not as simple as turn the guitar up and turn down the drums.

For most Christians though we are incapable of fine tuning our own volume. Many Christians have a firm grasp on meekness. We can be nice an pleasant, not disturbing anyone and not shaking anything up.We keep the volume to a nice low 3 or 4 Then there is the other extreme, when we go to 11. This is when we start screaming and foaming at the mouth. We accuse so and so of being the anti-christ and this group or that of hating Christians.

There is nothing wrong with going to 11, but why does it always seem to be done in anger? Can't we fine tune our own volume? Can't we let our joy out at 11 and our anger at 3?

Why are we so quiet about what God has done for us but so loud about what we think others are doing to us when what they can do is nothing compared to what God has done?

God of Wonders: Light on the water

Bioluminescent plankton wash ashore in the Maldives.

No interest, nothing down

Most Christians are familiar with the Bible's statements about not lending money to one another. A lot of this prohibition has to do with charging interest. And any student of Dave Ramsey knows you should have the cash in hand before you buy.

The Bible even goes further by creating what is called the Year of Jubilee. In the simplest of terms this was a time in which all debt would be cancelled.

It may seem surprising that God would concern Himself so much with our banking systems but I think there is a greater reason behind this. When we borrow we are indebted to someone for a period of time. To at least a minor extent the have control over us. Now that might seem fine when we take out the loan but how do we know where our lives will be at the end of that loan in 5 or 20 years?

Several times I have begun to fill out application for joining the staff of different ministries. But almost always I get stopped in the same spot. They ask about my finances. Which is fair enough, it's not like I'd be bringing in the big buck there and they want to make sure I can afford to live on what I would make. But I am tackled by debt. Student loans, car loans, credit card debt make it impossible to survive on a staffer's pay.

God does not want us deep in debt because His plans for us may not allow us to pay off that debt. Debt holds us captive. We cannot follow the path He would have for us if we are tied down by debt.

A few minutes more

Most days when I drop my son off at preschool he drops his coat in his cubby and jets for the blocks or cars without so much as a goodbye while I follow in hot pursuit chasing down a hug. But for the last few days he has been very clingy. He attaches himself to my leg and won't let go. He looks up at me with those big eyes and asks me to stay for just a few minutes more or to let him go with me.

I so wish I was like that with my Heavenly Father. Most of the time when I am spending time with Him I'm watching the clock. I wonder if the Pastor is paying attention to the time. I hurry to read the passage and run through my standard prayer requests so I can check it off my to do list and get on with my day.

What if I was like my son begging God for just a few more minutes with Him? Pleading for just a little more time to spend together before I have to get on with my day.

I pray that God makes me more like my son.

Choose Your Own Adventure

I'm not sure if I ever wanted to be a cowboy when I was a kid. When I was in middle school a friend and I decided we were going to move to New Mexico and live as mountain men after high school. Pretty sure we had no idea what that even meant then.

I know that I commonly fantasized about being a knight or a king living in some grand castle. Actually I still fantasize about that one.

But why do we do that? Sometimes we long for simpler times or we forget how much we enjoy proper hygiene  But mostly it is because we want grandeur  We want to slay dragons or fight off bandits. We want to live in castles or ride the plains.

Our lives seem so mundane by comparison, surely there is still adventure out there waiting for us somewhere.

Or maybe we're living grand and adventurous lives already and we just don't realize it. I imagine there were many a knight or cowboy who did not feel their lives were grand. Did they know that we would dream about them so many years later and fill our stories with their deeds?

Will generations from now be telling tales of our deeds? I don't know, the most we can do is try to choose a worthy adventure.

Give it up

I've been trying to be more healthy lately. In addition to trying to exercise regularly I've really been trying to make healthier choices with my diet. A big part of that has been giving up soda and chocolate.

But why do we say "giving up"? Sure we might "give up" something during lent, but that is a sacrifice we're making to God. When we make a choice that is better for us are we really giving something as though we're making a sacrifice.

When I stopped smoking I said I "quit smoking" but that was not accurate. It would have perhaps been better to say I'd been "freed from smoking". Smoking was a chain around my neck that had imprisoned me for years. Now I am trying to free myself from other unhealthy habits.

Shouldn't we look at more areas of our lives this way? What if we saw our sins not as something we have to give up, but something to be freed from?

Fields of Fire

One of the most difficult concepts the Army teaches new recruits is maintaining your sector. You see each soldier has a certain sector that they are responsible for protecting. For example in a convoy the gunner on the first vehicle is responsible for what is in front of the convoy. The second for the left, third for the right, fourth back to the left, and fifth also on the right. And so on and so on until the final vehicle which is responsible for protecting the rear of the convoy.

These sectors are designed to overlap, giving the maximum protection. But it is vital that everyone maintain their own sector. Even if all hell has broken loose in someone else's sector you cannot turn to help. While you are helping the other soldier how will you know if the enemy is sneaking up through your sector while your back is turned?

This concept is built on trust. Your gut tells you to turn and fight. Your comrades may not be able to protector your flank or your rear. You want to ensure it is being done. But you must trust your brothers and they must trust you.

What if we applied this principle in our own lives? How often are turned around concerned about what others are or aren't doing all the while leaving our own sectors unguarded? Do you trust your brothers and sisters to protect their sectors? Do they trust you?

Doctor's Orders

Today would be the 109th birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, Dr. Seuss.

In his career the good doctor published 48 books and sold over 200 million copies.

Dr. Seuss was more than a wacky wizard of words, he was not one to shrink from a challenge.

His first book "And to Think I Saw T\It on Mulberry Street" was rejected by more than two dozen publishers before someone saw his potential.

But even after acheiving success Dr. Seuss was not free from challenge, even if only in good natured fun. Seuss' publisher challenged him that he could not write a book consisting of no more than 50 words. Seuss answered the challenge with "Green Eggs and Ham".

How do you respond to a challenge?

"You're off to great places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!"

What do you do?

We often identify ourselves by what we do for a living. So much so that it is one of the first questions you ask someone when we first meet them. For some the answer to that question is easy. It was for me when I was in the Army or when I was a cop. But other times my title was not as impressive as I would have liked. So security guard became "contract security" or unemployed became "student". We don't want to be seen as having a lesser profession, we fluff our resume for our own vanity.

What if we looked at it differently? What if we did not identify ourselves by our occupation? What if we used some other areas of our lives to title ourselves? Could we answer the "what do you do" question with where our passion lies, not with where our paycheck comes from?

If I said I'm a husband and father would that be enough or would you still want to know where my money comes from?

What do you do?