Show Me....!

Imagine for a moment your Peter, you've just seen the Lord and he is risen and your all excited and you run and tell the other disciples, then the Lord appears hangs out with you guys for a bit and then is gone to return later. In walks Thomas, and you all are excited and you tell him what happened. Then he stuns you by saying "until I put my finger into the wounds on his hands and the wound on his side I won't believe!" What is up with this guy, was he blind or mute and didn't see all the things he did? I mean he went everywhere Jesus did, so why didn't he believe what Peter and the other disciples told him? Unfortunately we all tend to be like Thomas at times, it's as if we come from Missouri, the show me state. We all need proof that something is so. It's no wonder that because of that disciples lack of faith, he is forever called doubting Thomas. Peter and the other disciples showed that even in the darkest times your faith will be rewarded. Faith is not easy, it requires you to believe without solid proof. We stumble along the way, the trick is to get up and instead of saying "show me" say instead "lead me".

Earth Hour 2008

if you ever thought"what can I do to help against Global Warming?" Well here is your chance, tonight at 8:00pm to 9:00pm people all over the world will turn off their lights for one hour. Now you can be part of the solution, you can do your part to help our environment. Maybe if we all start doing little things like this they will turn into bigger things to help our world and make a better place for those who are here now and who will come after we are gone.

Confronting Evil

Each of us everyday confront one or more types of evil on our daily path of life. It might be something as simple as seeing some kids teasing another kid or a parent abusing their child. It is up to us to step up and confront that evil or else it gets worse, maybe the teasing will turn into bullying or the abuse turns into death for the child or even adult. We no longer can sit by and hope it goes away, their can be no more innocent bystanders because if we are bystanders we are no more innocent than the people participating in that evil. Jesus never just stood around, he did something. When he saw what was happening in the Temple with all the haggling and selling, he did something. He was pretty upset and turned over tables and through them out! So when you confront evil in your daily path of life just remember you can still be a good Christian and still get mad, Jesus did.

Just Drifting

Have you ever felt like you were just drifting in life with no rhyme or reason as to your final destination? I know I have and I've wondered where the heck is this all leading to. Like Fox in his balloon, we sometimes feel we are at the mercy of the winds and currents of life with us exerting no control on where we are going. Yet believe it or not we do have control and the magic word is Faith, there's that word again, popular isn't it? When you let go and let God do the driving, you get to your destination in better shape with less stress. Instead of Fox wondering where he is going and how he is going to get there, he is enjoying the beautiful view and enjoying the ride, so my advice when you have days like that, let go and enjoy the view.

Jesus has risen....now what?

I bet that's what the Apostles said after Jesus had risen and come to visit them, then left for Heaven, they probably all thought now what do we do? Well Easter is over and now what will you do? The Easter season is such a powerful time that people sometimes have a let down and wonder now what should I do? What people forget is, like Christmas, the spirit of the season never stops. It continues all year long, the seasons of Christmas and Easter are times to renew that spirit so we can continue on and do good works. These seasons serve to reminds us of our obligations as Christian people to do good works, to love God, and be kind to others. So if your thinking "now what" don't, the season never stopped keep going.

Welcome to St Finbar

Welcome to my church, St Finbar in Burbank, I love this church and all the people in it. Rightly so without pride it has coined the phrase, "St Finbar Church the place to be." So much has been going on that is wonderful and so blessed. The music ministry has grown by leaps and bounds, Teen involvement in all phases of the church from choir to ushering has increased. If your visiting my site please visit St Finbar in Burbank, hospitality is next to none and we have been complemented on our warmth and openness. So I just wanted to take this time to invite you in the hopes that you will be blessed as all of us who go to St Finbar have been.

Faith

Faith, what a powerful word, believing in something without proof, how hard is that to do in our daily lives. The picture to the right is taken from the 1937 movie Lost Horizon, in which five people are kidnapped and brought to a place with no wars, no conflicts and where no one wants for anything. People age very gradually there so you may live to be hundreds of years old. Sounds like Heaven doesn't it? The main character to the right, Conway, has been convinced by his brother that all he has heard in Shangri-La is a lie and convinces him to leave this perfect place. I picked the screenshot on the right because it is a pivotal point in the main characters life, he looks back at Shangri-La and wonders "am I making the right decision?" His face shows such turmoil and what he must do and in the end his concern for his brother wins out and he leaves. How like Peter is that when he was confronted with almost the same choice and denied Jesus. Yet there is a happy ending to the movie and Peter's decision, Conway does go back to Shangri-La, it takes him six tries before he finds the right pass in the mountains, but find it he does. As with Peter, despite his denial of Jesus he had Faith in God's forgiveness, just as Conway had Faith he could find Shangri-La again. We all struggle with our Faith each and every day of our lives, as we do lets try and do the best we can and be like Conway who it took six times before he found Shangri-La, never give up Faith no matter how hopeless you think something is, in the end God will always be there waiting for you in your own Shangri-La.

In A Moment...

In a moment
I saw him in a crowd
smiling and laughing
never being loud
you smiled at me
and said "come with us
and see what we will see."

In a moment
you made water into wine
never knowing then
that this was God's sign
you made a blind man see
and I saw then
what God could be

In a moment
I saw you heal a little girl
who rose from her bed
to dance and twirl
we shared your wine and bread
and in God's name
we were fed

In a moment
I heard you pray
"If this be your will
let it be done this day"
I saw them come for you
and you were gone
I didn't know what to do

In a moment
I denied your name
and I knew
I would never be the same
I saw you suffer on the tree
your arms spread wide
and you forgave me

In a moment
you made me see
what love truly is
and how you died for me

Are you Listening....?

Have you ever been in a conversation, and for a moment you were distracted and had to say "i'm sorry what did you say". I know I have been guilty of that have you? Imagine for a moment if the people really were listening to God, what kind of world would this be. Yet we go through our lives saying, "i'm sorry what did you say". We need to slow ourselves down from all the distractions in our lives and just take five minutes to just sit and listen to what God has to say. My prayer for this Easter season is that more people just take a moment to sit and listen. We live in a very hectic world and we may feel that we don't have five minutes to spare, but keep something in mind when you think that, Jesus spent hours on a cross for us, could you do any less? So the next time your in a conversation with someone, really listen you may learn something.

Looking for a Miracle

We are always searching for a miracle for one reason or another and when it happens we sometimes go, thats it! We don't appreciate the miracle for what it is, something wonderful that happens even if it's fleeting. I remember a movie with Robin Williams and Robert Dinero where Robin played a doctor who helped patients with Alzheimer's type of disease. Robert Dinero played the patient. The doctor tried an experimental drug that made them normal and it was a great success until as time passed the drug no longer worked and they reverted back to the way they were. I remember the doctor feeling that he had failed until the mother sat with him and said that even if her son had only been with her for just one hour to her it was still a miracle. We have to try to recognize the miracle when we see it and learn that no matter how small or how short the miracle is, it is still a miracle.

Inner Light

Long ago I had a best friend, her name was Jaime, even at a young age she was a model and pretty much had everything. Yet she was nothing like the divas of today. She had a deep understanding way beyond her years, and a complete believe in God. She had a inner light that would shine through at even at the darkest of times and whomever it touched would change them. It was a feat I saw happen many times in her young life. I know it often touched me and i'm a better person because of it. She often said we all have that inner light, God is not selfish and just gives it to a few, but to everyone. It's just a matter of letting that light out so it can touch someone else. The last night I was with her she reminded me about that inner light and how it will get you through anything, you just have to have faith. She passed away at the age of 20, but to this day I have never forgotten the promise I made to her, to spread that inner light, so it can touch others and just keep going and maybe someday this world will know that inner light.

What if you knew....

What if you knew the exact moment of your death and exactly how you were going to die, how would you approach it? Would you try to avoid it, would you run away? Or would you accept it and try to make what time on this earth you have left to mean something. I won't even try to imagine what it must have been like for Jesus on that Palm Sunday so long ago, even amidst the cheering crowds and the loud hosannas he knew what was going to happen and yet he continued on. He knew he had to continue to complete the work he began so we all would be saved. There is a line in a song we sang today that goes "amazing love, how can it be that you my Lord would die for me". When we give of ourselves with no thought but only to do good with the life God gave us in whatever time he has given us. We touch people every day in one way or another, make each moment count, change a life. What if you knew..Jesus did, and he gave his life for you.

A Big Mistake

In our lives, from day to day we make mistakes, small mistakes and those really big mistakes. Since it's the Easter season I was thinking about the Roman Centurion on that day on Golgotha, talk about a big mistake. I have often wondered what he was thinking at that time and how he must have felt. I think the lesson is that even after making the greatest mistake in the history of mankind he still was able to correct it and became a believer. So next time you make what you think is a Big Mistake, think about the Roman Centurion.

Friends

What is your friend like, do they like the same things you do, are they like you? Most of the time we try to find people who fit our standard of what we like or want in a friend. What if someone who is so different picked you to be their friend would you refuse them or politely avoid them? I know to be honest I have been guilty of that, but then I think, imagine being friends with someone who said they were the Son of God. Would you say, "oh my God this person has lost it" or like Peter and followed Jesus. Like any friend he disagreed and even denied him, but because of the forgiveness of Jesus Peter stayed strong until his death. So when someone maybe not to your standards comes to you and offers you friendship thats maybe a bit out of the ordinary like in the above picture, just remember Jesus and Peter.

Waiting

Waiting, something we all do every moment of every day of our lives. We wait for the train to come, we wait for someone to get ready so we can go somewhere and of course we wait for all the right numbers to come up on that lottery ticket we just bought. There is one thing we never have to wait on, ever, and that is God's love for us. It's always there, no waiting in line, no waiting for all the numbers to come up, it's there. So the next time your waiting for something and grumbling about it, just remember God is already there no waiting.