Missing You

True! :p

Hello everyone! Sorry for taking a break! Wait... no I'm not! ha ha. But really I needed it, I can't pump out posts of this length every single night and still keep good, relevant material. I know short but sweet works, and I may have to switch to that soon, but in the meantime, you might just have to wait a few days in between posts!

So much has happened this past week. School's over! Well... except for finals. Oh that evil word. Finals. Sends shivers down your spine, doesn't it? Anyways... Then there was the Risk tournament! Got stabbed in the back by both my allies, of course! It was really fun though. And then there were low moments. Fights with friends, mistakes made, things said that were regretted. Not necessarily by me, but I was certainly there for it all.

As we get older, life gets more complicated, ya know? I mean, in 2nd and 3rd grade, I had no idea what an exam was. Now they are something I deal with regularly. Money? A hundred dollars makes you rich right? Well not anymore. Reality sets in. As we grow older, things change, for better or worse.

Guessed what today's topic is yet?....

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Growing Up

I think it's something that really needs to be discussed. It might not be something people my age want to hear though. The comic at the top is a clue. If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm trying to start each post off with something that's at least vaguely relevant to the topic (unless it's a philosoraptor! XD). I think that in today's society people are pushed to grow up at a younger and younger age. Now I don't mean grow up like getting a job, learning to support a family, etc. All of those things we seem to be doing at older and older ages as time goes on. No, what I'm talking about are issues. Drugs, Alcohol, Fights, Sex, etc. All of it permeates our culture today and it seems to be hitting kids younger and younger. More and more often I hear about girls getting pregnant in the 6th grade. That's unacceptable. I'm not gonna go into abortion and life issues, that's another topic for another day (though she should keep the baby). But it shouldn't be happening in the first place. Some old friends of mine have fallen into things that are ruling their lives. They can't wait to go home from school and get back to drinking or shooting up or what have you. Some don't even wait that long. I know of people who had pregnancy scares. This shouldn't be happening. At this age we should be enjoying life. But really enjoying it. Hanging out. Going to movies. Talking. Who just talks anymore?

It all stems down to one thing: lack of innocence.

A friend was reading a paper he read out loud to my class the other day about reflections on this past school year. He said the thing he noticed the most, and was most saddened by was the loss of innocence. Everyone in our class, (myself included) he said, had lost some of their innocence in one way or another. This is one of the saddest things of all. Innocence is like time: once it's lost, you can never really get it back. You can start over, but you can't ever get back what you've lost. We live in a society where people are loosing their innocence earlier and earlier. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but hearing an eight year old drop the "f-bomb" regularly and then seeing him getting high-fived for it seems so wrong. It seems like society in general is progressing towards losing innocence at younger and younger ages.

What happened to innocence? Why is it that now younger and younger kids are being exposed to things that inevitably cause them to "grow up" faster than ever before? I could give specific examples, but there are things I've promised not to talk about. It seems to me that instead of looking into the causes of loss of innocence, society feeds into it. Take teen pregnancy for instance. Sure it has happened throughout all of history, but only within the past few decades with the rise of the free love movement and other things has it gotten worse. Instead of trying to push this back by teaching values or other options, society decided to start teaching about sex and contraceptives etc. younger and younger, in some places as young as kindergartners. Should a 5 year old really know about that? NO.

I know that's a little off topic, but just an example. I think what's really going on is that we have backwards definitions about what it means to grow up. Sure growing up means making mistakes and becoming who you are, but that doesn't mean that we have to do really stupid things. Entire generations before us grew up and turned out just fine without the things that we do at our age now. Why do people believe that you HAVE to do stupid things at parties or get drunk or get high etc. as part of a normal experience? Because it's a lie.

Lies like that are easily believed. Peer pressure ring a bell? Cmon, every one's doing it! These are the times our friends have the chance to destroy us the most, when we believe these lies. You'll never be caught! Just don't tell your parents! It's fun! Everyone has a first time! Cmon loosen up! It's perfectly normal! That last one is quite possibly the worst of all. Just because something is common doesn't mean that it's right. It's perfectly normal for people to cheat on things in high school, whether it be homework, tests, quizzes, what have you. That doesn't make it right.

And see that's the mentality that's been bread into this generation: if it's normal it must be OK. Sex is on TV all the time, does that mean we should be doing it in high school? No! It is THE most beautiful thing on this planet. Yes, I use the world beautiful. If used correctly, human sexuality is the greatest gift we can ever give another person, the greatest love we can ever feel, and the greatest joy we can experience here on earth. It is the culmination of a human person, if done in the right way. Sex now completely degrades all of that. It makes both people less like people and more like objects for the other to use. I know I'm once again getting off topic, but there's so much to cover here. Drug use is becoming more and more common. Still not OK. It purports to give its users escape, but hands them their own shackles. It enslaves them. Drug addicts, even those who become sober, have to deal with the consequences of their addiction for the rest of their lives. But is that made known? Nope. Same thing with drunks. While some alcohol now and then is perfectly fine - studies have shown some drinks like wine can even be healthy for you in small amounts! - getting drunk all the time is not. It acts just like any other drug and enslaves its users. Even those who escape can't even have a sip later in life because the temptation to go too far is too great.

All of these things that society purports to be a normal part of the teenage experience, of the growing experience destroy lives. Sometimes it leads to people getting kicked out of school, or sent to jail. Others it ends in the destruction of relationships. Still other times no consequences are apparent except later in life when disease caused by abuse of drugs and alcohol show up. And yes, some even get away with no consequences whatsoever. There are exceptions to any rule. But the rules should not be based on the exceptions. The fact of the matter is that most people who get into this stuff have terrible results.

Now for the real point: Why is it then that those of us who just want to skip that become ostracized? I mean it's not too terrible for me, but I know many people who have lost friends because they decided not to go with the crowd. The truth is that everyone has to find their own path growing up. But one doesn't have to make THOSE mistakes to grow up. One can have morals and stick to them and grow up. In fact, the one who has that IS the most grown up. If a person can find his beliefs and have the courage and strength to stick to them, even in trials, he is grown up.

As you all know, I am a person of faith. It's fine if you're not and I'm not trying to convert you, again I'm just using this as another example. A wise man once told me that you aren't an adult in your faith until you begin to question it. That makes sense, if you think about it. When you're a little kid you blindly believe everything you're told, but as you grow older you begin to realize that many of the things you were told as a little kid can't be taken just on face value, and that adults are human, and make mistakes. If you continue to blindly believe in everything, then you really aren't grown up yet. When you begin to question what you've been told, begin to make your own decisions, begin to make your own choices, that's when you begin to grow up. When you can take the facts you've been presented with and make up your own mind, not your parents or your friends or anyone else's but yours, that's when you've grown. I get mocked at school a lot for actually being a Catholic. Many people think I carry on with these beliefs because of my upbringing, because of my parents, because of fear, because of so many things. But that's not the truth. I've questioned so many things in life in my journey that's called faith. You've seen some of them in this blog already. Why does God let bad things happen? Why is sex outside of marriage such a bad thing? Everyone else doesn't seem to think so. Why does God send people to Hell? Why does He let people die? Why does He let me feel pain? Why did He let my friends get so lost? Is He even there at all? I've had tons of doubts and made up MY OWN mind that I do believe in the Catholic Church.

Don't believe me? That's OK. I don't care. I don't need to. That's the point about growing up. I am who I am and I don't care what other people think because I know that by being me, I'll attract the right kind of people. And THAT is what growing up is about. It's NOT about going with the crowd or doing what people think is cool. It's about finding yourself. Finding who you are. Finding your beliefs. Testing the waters. Having some doubts. NOT doing what everyone else is, but forging your own path. NOT listening to the media and society, but making our own choices. Be an individual, not just another face in the crowd. I can say that most people at my school know who I am. Is that good or bad? I don't know, but I do know that I am who I am. And that's all I need.

I know I'm grown up because I can make my own decisions. Yeah, sometimes it does cost me friendships, cause me pain, make life harder. But sticking to who I am is part of growing up too. I'm not always good at it, and I'm not even always sure who I am, but I'm figuring that all out on the way. The point is though that I'm becoming me and growing up without having to make mistakes that could destroy my life and take away the chance for me to live my life to the fullest and be who I want to be.

For those of you who are struggling with this, take hope. The story has a happy ending. Yeah, I might take stuff at school, but I've found a whole group of friends who love and support me and I hang out with all the time. I'm happy. My faith is growing and hope is welling in my life like a spring. Sure I still make stupid mistakes, but that too is all part of growing up. The difference is when you fall you've got to get up, dust yourself off, and keep moving forward instead of staying down in the dirt. Don't get caught up in the crowd, because ultimately the crowd is going to lead you down paths you don't want to go. And it doesn't look like it right now, but later in life the people in the crowd will look back on their lives and realize that they should have been like you; that you were right back then. By making your own choices now you can save yourself so much trouble and pain that life would hand you otherwise. Make your own decisions. Grow up without losing your innocence. Yeah, that is possible.

Well this one has been pretty long! I'm almost done! Don't worry! ;)

I'll finish up with a tangent and a song.

An excerpt from the song "Headphones" by Jars of Clay goes like this:

 I don’t have to hear it, if I don’t want to
I can drown this out, pull the curtains down on you
It’s a heavy world, it’s too much for me to care
If I close my eyes, it’s not there

With my headphones on, with my headphones on
With my headphones on, with my headphones on

They tell a sad story of today's world. So many times today we simply ignore the problems of today's world. We ignore others' pain and sufferings. We decide not to get involved. Imagine what would happen if every one of us tried to stop our friends from making mistakes that could change their lives forever. Imagine if we fought for those we loved and helped them grow up the right way. Imagine the pain we could stop. It's true that they've got to make their own decisions, and if you try and they still want to mess up, that's on them, but if we just tried a little more to be examples in our own lives, only God knows what impact we could have! That's my challenge for you for the next few weeks:

Live life as you. Help others avoid mistakes that could hurt them more than they know. Be the best you you are. And keep growing up without losing your innocence.

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Today's Bible Quote:

Jeremiah 1:17-19

"But do you gird your loins; stand up and tell them all that I command you. Be not crushed on their account, as though i would leave you crushed before them; For it is I this day who have made you a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against the whole land: Against Judah's kinds and princes, against its priests and people. They will fight against you, but not prevail over you for I am with you to deliver you says the Lord."

Point: Be who you are. Stand up for your beliefs. Grow up. God'll be there. He won't leave you hanging or alone. Become who you are meant to be, and good things will happen. Grow up without fear and be who you are without making mistakes you'll regret.

So in parting, why did I call it missing you? Well if you are Starkid you know that it's a reference to AVPM ( A Very Potter Musical). But really it comes down to missing friends. There are friends that I had as a kid that I don't have anymore. Sure those people are still in my life, but they've changed, and not for the better. So I'm missing them. They aren't who they are anymore and they're lost. Hopefully I can find them again. Or rather they can find themselves. All I can do at this point is pray. If any of you have people like that in your lives, reach out to them. It's never to late to change a life.

No more missing. No more going with the crowd. Grow Up!

Until next time,

~Wanted~

Almost Flightless Birds

Haha I LOVE this! XD

Today on my way home from school I was listening to a comedy station on Pandora radio. One of the comedians that came on was the guy from cash cab. One of his jokes was about the distractions of google, and how he went from booking a flight to Cleveland to becoming an accidental ornithologist. One of his jokes in this routine was about bird classifications. Apparently there is a classification of birds called Almost Flightless Birds. That's really funny in and of itself. What does that even mean? "We're almost flightless, but not quite!" I found it really funny, haha. But he went on to talk about flightless birds, and the most pitiful of all, if it were to actually exist, Almost Flightful Birds. He said it's like the same as flightless birds, but with false hope.

The routine itself was really funny, but it got me thinking. Yesterday we discussed hope, and how important it is. False hope is arguably one of the greatest evils inflicted on mankind today. It raises people's spirits with promises that only end up crushing their souls. Like the birds that never fly, these people waste their time in the false hope that something is going to happen when the person giving it to them knows it never will. False hope is the deadliest weapon mankind has at its disposal. If you really think about it, in some ways it's more powerful than an atomic bomb. Sure a bomb can kill people, but false hope can crush their souls. What's worse for a person, being dead with your beliefs intact, or being alive with your soul crushed by the shattering of your hope? It's the second one, in case you were wondering. Taking away the hope of a people crushes them.

To again reference my favorite book series, in Pendragon: The Quillian Games the main character gives people hope that they can escape the oppression of the supercompany that rules the entire planet. He raises their spirits and a rebellion seems imminent. Then, without revealing the plot too much, the spark of hope in the rebellion is crushed, and the main character accidentally caused it to happen. In doing so, the hopes of the people were crushed too. They sunk lower into oppression than ever before, no longer wishing to fight the powers that be. The point? If you really want to destroy someone, destroy their hope.

Now I'm not advocating for false hope, it just seemed apt to discuss at the moment, as I think that hope will be the theme fore this week.

False hope is just the jumping point for the real topic
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 Nearly Flightful Birds

XD Just kidding!

The real topic for today is....

Well I'm not really sure, sort of a summary I guess.
The title is a clue though.

I feel like we are Almost Flightless Birds. Like on our own we are just barely hovering above the ground. We know that we are barely surviving, but still we try to do it on our own because we are proud. We hide things from each other. We hide things from people who want to help us. People who should be able to help us. Why? Well maybe part of it is out of fear. Fear of disappointing those we love. Fear of losing yourself. Fear of falling out of the sky because you have to trust someone else to hold you up. Another part is pride. "Well I can fly just fine by myself!" Can you really? Because it seems like you're just barely staying up off the ground. I think all of us fall into the trap sometimes of thinking that going to others for help is a sign of weakness.

It's really a sign of courage and inner strength.

Do you know how much guts it takes to admit that you're wrong? To admit that you can't do it alone? That takes true courage, true strength. And with the help of others, a nearly flightless bird becomes a soaring eagle, a peregrine falcon zooming up and diving down in the vast skies of hope, truth, and life. On a side note, peregrine falcons are like the coolest bird ever.... My Side of the Mountain was one of my favorite books as a little kid, and Frightful is awesome!

Where was I? Oh ya, inner strength. I think that this is one of the most underestimate qualities of the human person. It is one of the most essential, for sure. I think that many have thrust it aside as something girly, or only for those of a certain type, but inner strenght and courage is really the key to achieveing anything. In order to really believe in anything and stand up for your beliefs, you have to have the inner strenght and courage to fight for them.

Another thing we all have to be is there for each other. It's all well and grand that we can turn to others for help when we need it, but that becomes mooching and really just being a terrible person if we are never their for others. Imagine that you are in the middle of the ocean. Your boat has sank and you are just floating there in a life jacket. Suddenly someone comes along in a boat nearby, and helps you out of the water because they heard you crying for help. What if they didn't? What if instead they heard you but kept on going? In a body of water that large, odds are you would have died. Instead, they listened to your cry for help and came to the rescue. Now I know that's an extreme example, but that illustrates my point well. We have to be there fore one another. Otherwise we're just a bunch of almost flightless birds floundering on our own.

Well it's late and I'm tired, so I think I'll call it a day there. Who knows, maybe I'll end up writing this thing daily!

Oh but wait! I haven't included a verse for today! Well there are a great multitude that fit today's situation. I think that for tonight Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 seems to fit best:
"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

Basically it says that there is strenght in numbers, and while we might be able to do things ok on our own, united together we can achieve more that ever possible before.
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I know it was shorter than those in the past, but I'll try and keep a somewhat consistent lenght. I'm still new at this and getting the hang of it, so bear with me :).

So in summary for today: We are all Almost Flightless Birds. Alone we can get some things done, together we can accomplish most anything. While some personal pride is a good thing, too much is not. Humility is the key to survival. In fact humility is a sign of the strong. Asking for help when you need it is not a sign of weakness, but actually a sign of strength and maturity. And we have to help others too. We can't simply let ourselves be helped while we ignore our brothers who might be floundering right next to us. Lastly, community helps us survive. Though I didn't touch on this in the body of the post, and I'll have to do a whole 'nother post on it, you need to find yourself a good community of people. Surrounding yourself with people who really care for you and want what's best for you will make you the happiest you can be in life, and take you the farthest. Find a community that suits you and makes you a better person, and stick with it.

Well that's all for today. Keep flying high, and with help from each other we can all become the peregrine falcons we were meant to be... Did that just sound as corny as it did when I was thinking it? Yeah, probably. Well it's the best you're gonna get, I'm tired. Yeah it's stupid, but you get what I'm trying to say. Insight storage tanks draining quickly... Haha sorry about that.

Tangent aside, really, keep at it. Trust in God and in those who care for you. Find your Hope and never, ever let go. Know that you are never alone. And don't be afraid to seek help when you need it.

Until next time!

~Wanted~

What Keeps Us Going

At the dawn of each new day God's mercy is renewed.

AP exams are over! I'm so happy! They were way easier than I thought they would be, so I'm kind of upset I spent so much time worrying about them. St. Padre Pio said that "Worry is useless". Haha I should have listened to him. Sorry I didn't update the rest of the week! I've been kind of sick, and just exhausted from sleep deprivation during exam weeks and preparation. Only 2 weeks left of school then summer! Summer this year is going to be sooo busy. Internships, tutoring, Driver's ed (FINALLY!), multiple retreats, college visits, and tons of other stuff. And of course friends. I've got hope that it'll be a good one though! Actually, that's the perfect lead in for today's topic:

HOPE

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Today's topic I felt should be hope. There is such a lack of hope in the world today. From society. From the media. From ourselves. The world feels today like a cold, stark, barren place where it would be better to give up than to keep trying. At least it seems that way to me at times. This isn't reality. The reality is that hope is everywhere, if we just look for it. The dawn of each new day brings the hope of what's to come. A clean slate. A chance to start over. Each day we are presented a chance, an opportunity to be exactly who we want to be, who we were meant to be. We can begin anew with each day and the hope of tomorrow should be enough to keep people moving forward. A lot of times it's not though. And it's sad that so many people, myself included at times, can ignore the wealth of hope that surrounds each and everyone one of us each day. Like the picture above shows, hope begins anew each day. With that, We'll begin.

One of my favorite books of all time, Pendragon: The Merchant of Death has this passage in it that's stuck with me for a long time: "I remember going on  a hike with my dad once through a forest that had been recently destroyed by fire. We were surrounded by nothing but the burned and black remains of what had once been a wonderful, green thicket. It was sad, until I saw that growing out from beneath a fallen log was a single, green fern leaf. As horrible as the devastation was, this on leaf was proof that one day the forest would return to normal."

To me, that's the perfect picture of hope. That no matter how much the devastation, or how grave things look, something better is coming. Something new. Hope is the belief that things can be better. That you can be a better person. That a life can improve. That the economy can get better. That there's something more to life than this. That death isn't the end. That a forest can grow back from a single tree.

So why hope, why now? Well to be honest it's because hope is quite possibly the hardest and easiest thing for a person to possess. It is the most fragile of all things in existence. It has the power to raise people up or to destroy them entirely, depending on how it is used. It's the easiest thing in the world to get because all it takes is a single sentence, a single word to spark it. A kind gesture. A love note. The promise of a vacation. The beginnings of a new friendship. The list goes on and on. However while hope is so easy to be had, it is the hardest thing in existence to keep. The moment hope is threatened, many times it disappears entirely. A broken heart. A broken promise. A broken dream. Hope can leave you broken if it's used wrong. That's why it's so powerful.

Recently my hope has been tested time and time again. A good friend of mine... well he made a huge mistake that could have cost him his life. He lost his hope. Though honestly I don't think he had any in the first place. Why did God let that happen? I mean don't get me wrong, I'm glad he survived, but why did it have to happen in the first place? One of my best friend's moms died in February. Of all the people in the world, she deserved that least of anyone. She is a saint. Her mother was too. Why did God let that happen? Multiple friends have fallen to drugs and alcohol. Multiple friends have simply disappeared from my life. I've made many mistakes myself.

WHY?

WHY US? WHY NOW? WHY?!?!?!?!!?!??!

That's the question I've been asking. And yet in all this time I've never lost hope. Yes my friend could have died, but he didn't. Yes my friend lost her mom, but she's still here, and that's a blessing in and of itself because I don't know what I'd do without her. Yes people have made mistakes. Yes I have too. But I've learned a hugely important lesson over these past few months.

We are not our past.

A popular Tenth Avenue North song says this very eloquently:

But don't you know who you are?

You are more than the choices that you've made

You are more than the sum of your past mistakes

You are more than the problems you create

'Cause this is not about what you've done,
But what's been done for you.
This is not about where you've been,
But where your brokenness brings you to

This is not about what you feel,
But what He felt to forgive you,
And what He felt to make you loved.

There was a time in my life when I almost lost my hope entirely. I didn't believe in love. I didn't believe I was lovable or anyone outside of my family could love me. My hope was gone. All it took was a simple gesture of kindness to pull me out, a friend asking to sit next to me on the bus. Ok so there was a bit more to the story than that, but that's the important parts. But the past doesn't matter. I learned how I was wrong. I learned how I was selfish. I found my hope again.

That was a year ago. Now, with all the tests on my hope that have been, I really wanted to let go again. See, it's so much easier to let go of my hope than to keep fighting and hold onto what I believe in, especially when today's society tends to look down on my beliefs. Again all it took was some words from some friends. They told me that my hope gave them hope. That even though I keep falling down and making mistakes, the fact that I keep getting back up, and not giving up gives them hope.

Hope is not an easy thing to hold. You have to be strong. You have to stand firm. You can't care what others think about your beliefs, but stay strong in them. Your hope will be tested. But out of the fire will come something more beautiful than you could ever have imagined.

Last time we talked about faith deserts. Deserts are where your hope is tested. Keep your hope in the desert. On the other side is something of unimaginable greatness.

I know you're probably getting tired by now, haha so hold on for just a little bit longer.

My favorite verse in the Bible talks about hope, if you think about it.

"No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it."

1 Corinthians 10:13

It's about how we will be tried, but we will be taken care of if our hope is in Him. That's why He let these things happen to me. To you. To everyone. Faith is nothing without testing. Hope is nothing without testing. But like the trials I've faced recently, they all have an ending. The trials have a way out. My friend survived. My other friend is still happy. The druggies etc? While nothing might change now, I've just gotta keep being the example. So do you, at your school, at your work, wherever you are reading this. Be the example. While this might not have any immediate effect on anything, you'll plant the seeds to helping them change their lives.

So stay strong, keep hope.

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The message today:

Hope is hard to have. NEVER LOSE IT. NEVER LET GO. YOU ARE NEVER alone.

Praying for all of you, stay strong, and see ya next time!

~Wanted~

Get Ready 'Cause Here I come!

After AP Exams finish up, expect my first real post!
Inspired after I started a note on facebook (which for the sake of constancy I'll repost here!)
So Enjoy my inspiration, and get ready for more to come!

Excerpt from last week:
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(Random I know! haha)

Ever had one of those moments where God just beats you over the head with the message he needs you to hear? It becomes so apparent to you that you just want to tell Him : ALRIGHT I GET IT ALREADY!!!
That happened to me today.

Over the past week I've encountered events that have been hard to deal with. School, friends, family, what have you. Don't get me wrong, Nothing's wrong, I'm great and happy as ever. Just tired. And ready for school to be over haha. But that's not the point. The point is over this past week I've undergone a huge growth of faith thanks to these challenges.
How?

TRUST

That's the message that God is sending me like hogwarts sent owls to Harry (Yes I am that much of a nerd)
Trust that these problems will work themselves out. Trust that life will work itself out. Trust that mistakes can be undone. And trust that friends will turn to Him for help as well.

I noticed these things throughout the week, though only vaguely. Friday night I started to realize it even more. Some of you know I went to teen adoration on friday night, and I brought my journal with me. I was confused and wrote and wrote. And then i wrote this "Listen. Be still and listen. God will give you the words to say. Like the Gospel said today: Let not your heart be troubled. He will tell you what to do. Do not fear. Do not worry. He didn't say it'd be easy. He only said it'd be worth it."

So I sat and listened, and came to the conclusion that I needed to trust Him, on a lot of things. So I did.

Saturday came around and the Bible Study I went to had a reading from Exodus 16. It was all about how the Israelites had to trust God to provide for them in the desert. Desert has many connotations. Faith desert is one we hear often. It's when we have struggles in our faith, and it's harder to feel or see God in our lives than normal. But just like the Israelites in the desert, we too have to trust God in our deserts, and He'll pull is through and make us stronger than ever before. I saw my desert, and saw that God was telling me through that reading again that I just have to trust, and get others to trust, and it'll all be fine. So again God told me to trust.

By now I'd started to get the message. I'd been more trusting than ever. I knew and know that God'll take care of me if I just take the time to pay attention to Him. But He wasn't done yet. Nope. The kicker came today at Mass. I was lucky enough to get to go to Mass twice today. The first was for a wonderful mother-son luncheon with my mom this morning. Honestly I nearly fell asleep. Tonight I got to go again. I needed to, for many reasons. The biggest of which I didn't even know. Like I said, the message wasn't fully clear yet.

Tonight at Mass the priest talked about the people he serves. He talked about the poor and how they are always happy. I was kinda just sitting there thinking "This is nice, but I've heard it all before" and I thought i knew exactly what he would say next. In fact, haha, I was mouthing it to myself. Well God has a funny way of proving us wrong. The priest said the reason the poor are so happy all the time is because they TRUST in God to provide for them.

It hit me like a punching bag.

I was all set to stand up and say "OK I GET IT!" but thankfully i didn't.

THe whole Mass i thought was tailor-made for a friend of mine who needed to hear about the hope that God provides us. Then I realized that it was so much more than that. It was really for me. I may have gone to Mass for that reason, but I ended up there because God neeeded to emphasize to me that I trust Him more.

Now why did I tag YOU in this? Why do I share this? Sure it's a nice story, but it's nothing special.
You see there was more to the message. I knew in that moment that I had to share this message of trust. Why? That's for God to say. But I know that YOU, yes YOU there reading this. You may be shaking your head at me, laughing, or just thinking "Greg, you're crazy". I know I am, haha, but that's beside the point. He wanted YOU to know of His great undying love for you, and HE wants YOU (Yes just like those old uncle sam posters) to trust in Him more. Your life will become so much easier because of it, and He has great changes to make in your life if you simply let Him.

Sorry for babbling, and if this doesn't seem to fit you, then maybe I didn't hear it right. Otherwise, Thanks for listening. Not to me. I haven't been saying this. He has. Like I said in my journal

~Listen, be still and listen~

and most importantly

TRUST

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That's all for now, expect more by next weekend, and enjoy!