Monkees Singer Davy Jones Dead At 66 – Yahoo! Music.
This is a good reminder that time slips past without us even knowing it.
Monthly Archives: February 2012
The Good Thief: A Lenten Reflection
Lent offers us a time to examine your lives, to look deep within, to take inventory of our lives and see what is stuffed under our spiritual beds. However, how many of us really take the time to do this, how many of us look at Lent as just a time to give up candy or maybe attend a retreat.
I know for me, lent is one of the hardest sessions of the Church year. I find it hard to wrap my hands around the idea, ya I get that we are too fast and offer up our sufferings, but really, is giving up candy suffering? Is attending a retreat at Lent, as more of an obligation, really, what it is all about, I think not.
I think we have lost the true meaning of Lent, just as most of us have lost the true meaning of Christmas and Easter. The meaning somehow got lost in all the other stuff of life. The question, how do we get it back, what can we do, today, this week, the Lent, to get back the true meaning of Lent, Easter and yes even Christmas.
It is more than just attending a retreat or giving up candy because we are expected to. I have a friend who is a fallen away Catholic, who every Lent tells me, I can’t eat meat on Fridays, my question to him, why? It means nothing to you, why bother. His response, because we are not supposed to. See, it is not a question of devotion, but one of duty.
Yes, duty has a part in it all, but really is that why we sacrifice? Because of duty, is that why Jesus offered up his life, because of duty, I hope not! I hope it was because of love, a profound love of me of you of humanity.
Therefore, do we suffer out of duty or out of love for God, love for Jesus and love for humanity?
Lent offers us a time to heal our hearts, to look past the call of duty and forward to the call of Love. But to look forward to the call of love, we must first look to the past, to the hilltop with the three crosses. Yes, all three crosses are of concern for us. Jesus being paramount, but the two thieves offer up lessons on healing.
Two men were crucified at the same time as Jesus, one on his right hand and one on his left (Matthew 27:38, Mark 15:27-28, Luke 23:33, John 19:18), which Mark interprets as fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 53:12. According to Matthew, both of the “thieves” mocked Jesus (Matthew 27:44); Luke however, mentions that
39 Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” 40 The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? 41 And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” 23:39-43
It is the good thief that teaches us about healing or hearts, he sees his wrongs, looks into himself and then asks Jesus to simply remember him. Nothing more, just remember him. The thief had not grand plan, no motive beyond being remembered. Yet Jesus saw his heart, healed his heart and gave to him the honor of being with Him in paradise.
The good thief practiced true suffering and repentance, all in the matter of seconds. Time is of no use to our Lord, our suffering can be days, weeks, years or seconds, it is all the same, true suffering is timeless. The good thief offered up his suffering when he stated “And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Do we truly believe we deserve our suffering, do we truly offer it up, or do we expect it to be just taken from us, with no action on our own part?
This Lent spend some time examine your life, and discover what you are called to do, what you are destined to suffer for. Read about the good thief, read between the lines of the passage, and find yourself in him. Can you offer up as he did, can you become the good thief?
God Bless & Happy Lent
Paul Sposite
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Suffer the Children
But Jesus said to them: Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to me: for the kingdom of heaven is for such.
Mathew 19:14 (Douay-Rheims Bible)
Yesterday was a sad day in Detroit, Michigan and Chardon, Ohio. (Select the city to read the stories) Our youth, our children have become murderers. Nothing new you may be saying to yourself, and right you are, Children have been killing each other over silly things since Cain and Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.
Genesis 4:2-12 (NIV)
Youth, from the start, have been envious of others; it seems to be a part of them. So no, murder is nothing new within society, but something has changed. I am not sure what, but something has.
Yesterday I was thinking about the senseless acts of both the Detroit youths and the Chardon, and I knew I needed to write about it today, to offer something, but what that something is I do not know. My mind goes from one thought to the next, one direction to the other, and it is hard for me to focus on one train of thought. I know this, I know that this has to stop, that we have to find a way to make the madness stop!
The responsibility falls on all of us, the Family, the Community, the Church, State and Nation. The violence is an epidemic a cancer eating away at our cities, our youth. Killing off the next generation of Doctors and scientist, politicians and fathers and mothers. We are aborting our responsibilities, all too often in the name of, of what?
We no longer “discipline” our youth, for fear of social services coming in and taking them. We are more concerned about their self-esteem them about their lives. Me, I say low self-esteem for a few hours is well worth the price of a lifetime. We no longer “force” youth to follow basic rules, in order to allow them to express themselves. I am sorry, they will have a lifetime to do that, in school rules are to be followed, and at home, rules are to be followed. This idea that the child and the parents are “best friends” is silly at best and destructive at worst. We are not “friends” to our children, we are parents, and we are caretakers and guardians of their little lives. We are to nurture and love them, but we are also to teach them and sometimes “punishment” is part of teaching.
In the real world, if I break a law, I must pay the fine, be it cash, time or whatever the price is, I am expected to pay it. Yet all too often, we teach our children that there is no punishment, there is no fine for the crime they commit.
I remember, years ago, when my boy came home from playing soccer at the local soccer club. This club charges $5 per person to play. He did not have the $5 to play, because I was at work and unable to give it to him. Nevertheless, when he returned home that day, he told me he played. I asked him how he paid, he said he didn’t, I assumed one of his friends paid, so I asked, who paid for you? No one he said… Therefore, me being the ever-smart one, asked, so how did you get in, and he being the ever not so bright at times said, we waited until the girl left the counter and walked in.
Yep, he walked in, without paying. Sure, it was only $5, at least that is what he said to me, no big deal, its only $5. Now I could have said, your right, they make enough money, and they should not charge you anyway. But what I said was, I don’t care if it was only one penny, what you did was wrong, it was stealing and you will pay it back, you will go and apologize and you will never, ever do it again. Because if you do, you will be one sorry young man. So we got in the car, drove back to the soccer place, I made him look the person in the eyes, tell them what he did, say he was sorry and offer his services to pay back the $5. He washed windows for about 45 minutes. Than we drove home. On the way home, I told him I was disappointed in him and that I loved him, we stopped for dinner and enjoyed our night. Now, he still did not think he did anything wrong, but a few days later he came back to me and said he understood and that he was truly sorry.
Yep, sometimes punishments have to be part of love and understanding. Yesterday my reaction to the Detroit mess was to bring the death penalty into Detroit, it was a knee jerk reaction, but I feel it may still have some merit. The problem, most of the violence is from youth, under 18. However, we need to do something, we need to fix this, and we need to fix it soon.
I do not have the answers, no one person does, God does, so I know we need to pray for the youth and pray for the cordage to do what is needed to be done. I also know that it is going to take all of us to fix this mess, all of us working together, putting aside our egos and city verse suburbs mentality. I know that I love the city of Detroit, but I also know that I am, for the first time in my life, getting a little scared to go to the city. The youths are running wild and they have no respect, none for themselves and even less for others. Life to them is expendable. Sad… However, expected…
We, as a nation, began to teach our youth that life is expendable. It started in 1979, and has grown. The land mark case of Roe v Wade, making abortion the law of the land, murder on demand. What do we expect, when Planned Parenthood goes into our schools and tells the youth, you do not want the “problem” you created, get rid of it, kill it, toss it out on to the streets, murder it. So life becomes worth nothing. Oh, and by the way, you want to do, do not let anyone tell you that you cannot, you just do it. We have allowed our youth to be taught that parents, the caretakers, guardians and we have no right to tell them, the youth, how to live, what to do, what is morally right and wrong. We have created a generation of individual morals, a generation that thinks they personally are more important that the person standing next to them. This flies in the face of what we know to be true.
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mathew 20: 28 (NIV)
We know, as Christians, that we are to serve others, yet we have created a generation that sees it as, others are to serve them. The question is how do we get back to that, Jesus calls us to?
This Lent, use the time to pray for our youth, to ask God for guidance and grace and to protect our youth from the evil one.
God Bless & Happy Lent
Paul Sposite
Guided Insight Life Coach (website is being updated, current web is just a template)
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Into your Arms, A Lenten Reflection
Today many people try to make Jesus out to be this hippy type of person who spoke softly and walked around with a smile on his face and a daisy in his hands. You know they type, the “Jesus Loves You” type. Sure, yes I know that Jesus loves me and I know that Jesus was a kind person, and spoke with compassion. But I also know Jesus overturned the tables in the Temple, I also know he told Peter to get behind him because he was acting like satin and He told the young rich man to go away because he was unable to give up what he had to follow Jesus. So Jesus didn’t always have a smile on His face and he didn’t always carry a daisy in his hands. Sometimes Jesus was upset, sometimes he was happy and at other times, he was passionate.
We often fail to remember that Jesus was fully human, not just partly, not only on some days at certain times, but 100% human 100% of the time. His humanity is important, it is because of his humanity that Calvary has any meaning at all. If Jesus was not 100% human, than offering up his life would have no meaning at all, for how miraculous would it be for a God to offer up His life, but for a man, a human, this is something. Jesus had to be human to take on humanity’s sins; sure, God could have just taken away our sins with a wave of his hands, but what good is in that? The act would have been forced upon us; we would have had no choice in it. That is not love, that is not freedom that is dictatorship that is forced compliance. God is not about force, God is about Choice. Freewill is what God offers us; we are free to say yes or to say no. This is our great Fiat, our chance to say YES to the Lord, Yes to God and to the Holy Spirit. God wants us, but he does not want to force us, he wants us to walk into his open arms under our own freewill.
Gods greatest gift you and me is the gift of freewill, our ability to say yes, to offer up that great Amen, or to say no, to resist the love of our Lord. This gift is the gift of love, the gift of true freedom. It is a gift the challenges our ego daily. Our fallen nature condemns us to our ego, for it was the ego that committed the first sin, the sin of pride. Our first parents, Adam and Eve wanted to be like God, their pride covered their eyes and they could not see that they already were with God, walking in the garden, they already had God with in them, but pride overshadowed this, covered it with vanity and covetousness , and the gift of freewill proved to be our downfall and not our salvation. The freedom to accept God or to reject God is the ultimate gift God gave us. Adam and Eve rejected that gift in the moment they ate the fruit of the Tree. It would not be until Jesus was sacrificed upon a Tree that Humanity would once again be united with God.
Jesus, being both Human and Devine, offers us His life, took upon himself our sins and gave us his Mother, yet that was not all He did. In his life Jesus showed us how to live, how to pray and how to act. Through His parables, teachings and His own actions He has provided for us a road map to His Kingdom. Yet one of the most powerful lessons He gave us came at the end of His earthly life, lifted upon that cross, the new Tree in the center of the garden, he spoke words of love and tenderness, His final words he offers to us as man.
Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”Gospel of Luke 23:46
Into your hands, I run, into your hands I collapse, into your hands I surrender… It is the Father that we offer ourselves; it is the Father that we seek for our comforts. Jesus, upon the cross, spoke these words, upon the cross He offers them to us. For each and every utterance Jesus spoke upon that cross brought Him one step closer to death, so each and every word, every letter, had a deep and profound meaning. He did not just say words He thought would sound nice, or words He thought would comfort His mother. No the words upon that cross were meant as final instructions. This was Jesus Great Fiat, His final Amen. Yet they are ours as well, for Jesus spoke them not for Himself, nor for God, for God already knows what is on mans mind, how much more He knew his only son. No the words from the cross were spoken for us, for you and me.
Jesus is telling us, that we, to truly be free from sin, must commend our spirits into Gods loving and open hands. That we must, of our own Freewill, offer ourselves to God. This and this alone, offers us our salvation. The Letting go of the ego and the acceptance of the loving arms of God is the true path to salvation. Jesus was stretched out upon that cross, His arms wide open to accept us, but He could not force us, He could not grab us, for his hands have been confined with the nail of sin, He cannot walk to us, for His feet have been bound by the nail of pride and he could not force us, for His earthly body had been scourged by the whip of humanity. Jesus could only offer open arms to receive us, if we chose to come to Him, to His beaten and bloodied body, to His Divine Humanity hung upon that cross.
This Lent reflect upon the words of Jesus from the Tree of salvation, eat of its fruits and look upon its limbs and see the face of salvation, the face of Jesus, the face of God.
Into your Arms I run, Into your Arms I collapse, Into your Arms I offer up my spirit.
God Bless & Happy Lent
Paul Sposite
I am currently updating the website, and accepting new clients
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Job, Me and Lent
I have written several religious formation books for use in the classroom, I have tackled Mosses and the flight from slavery, I have looked at the Book of Acts and even delved into the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but the one book I have always wanted to take on was the Book of Job. This book, Jobs story, has always fascinated me, and I feel there are so many hidden gems with in the text. The fabric of Job is rich and textured that I know lessons lay between the words of the book. Yet I have never followed that vision, that dream to write a formation book based on Job. Maybe I will, one day, or maybe I will use Job in other ways. This I know, it is one of my favorite books in the Bible, the story of poor Job just seems to touch me.
I would like to think it’s because I connect with Job, but I know this is not true, Job was a righteous man, pleasing to the eye of God, he was a rich man, with many blessings. I am no righteous man nor am I rich. Job had a family, wife and children, I am single, and Job had oxen and ass, and well, I’m just an ass with no oxen. So no, it’s not that I connect with Job on any physical level.
Job had faith, a trust in God that I can only strive for, we was steadfast in his convictions, even as he lost all he had, he was still faithful.
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.”22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Job 1: 20-22
No, Job was one of a kind, he had faith that most of us only dream of. Yet Job seems so real, so accessible to me, he does not seem out of reach, but rather he seems humble and down to earth. Just the man next store type of guy. There is something likeable and pleasant about Job, and about his story. You feel his sufferings and trials. Yet you know his faith will pull him through. You know Job lives by the old saying “For the Grace of God go I”. A saying that I often us in my daily speech, a saying that I try to live by, a saying the Job exemplifies.
Job is the perfect picture of acceptance, of letting go and letting God. Yes Job was man, so there for he was also fallen and sin was in his nature. He was not a god, nor was he God. He was not born sinless, and he, I am sure, did not die sinless. But he was contrite and humble, he was steadfast and prayerful and most of all he was obedient to the Lord.
Maybe this is why I am drawn to Job, not because he and I are so much alike, but because he and I are so different, because I want to be like Job, I want to emulate his trust and faith, I want to experience his deep conviction and to feel God within me as Job did. Maybe I am drawn to him because I lack so much of him within.
This Lent read the book of Job, meditate on his plight, on his trust and his faith, and read of his family and friends and others who lacked trust in the Lord, I think we, well I know I, will find ourselves more in them than in Job.
His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish[b] woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
Job 2: 9-10
Are most of us more like his wife than like him? When things seem not to go our way, we tend to blame God, to curse him, and if anyone in the bible seemed to have the right to curse God, it was Job. This man did nothing to deserve the trials he was enduring, he was a good and faithful man, yet God allowed the Devil to tempt him, and Job never wavered, he just endured.
And we complain about 40 days of Lent! The sacrifice we make, giving up meet on Friday compared to Job, who lost all he had. How sad we truly are, how unworthy we truly are. Yet God does not give up on us, just as he had faith in Job, he has the same faith in us. If only we could have the same faith as Job.
Lent offer us the time to reflect, to reflect upon the Cross, the Empty Tomb and the Risen Lord, use the 40 days of Lent to read Job, to understand Job and to see the Cross, Tomb and Risen Lord in all the Job endures. Journal about how Job and his trials can become your trials, how Job’s faith can become your faith, how The Book of Job can become a book of you.
God Bless & Happy Lent
Paul Sposite
(Note: The Guided Insight Life Coach website is currently down)
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What is your Focus this Lent?
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Were is your focus this Lent? On you or on Jesus. Lent is not about us, it is not about self-improvement, it is about Jesus, it’s about New Birth, it’s about New Life, it’s about New Perseverance and New Death.
New Birth
[ Praise to God for a Living Hope ] Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1 Peter 1:2-4
As a Christian we are a new creation, but more importantly as a Christian we believe that God became man and was born of woman into our humanity. His birth is the source of our New Birth. Because of a Childs Birth, we now have the opportunity to experience our Birth, our New Birth into Christ’s Church, into His Mystical Body.
Lent is a time for us to reflect upon the New Birth, a time to renew our own vigor and a time to dig deeper into our Birthright. With out the Birth of Christ, we would have no Resurrection, and without our New Birth into the Mystical Body, we would have no hope or joy, no resurrection of our own.
Now I’m not saying that we, like Christ, will rise from the dead, but we will, with Gods grace upon us, experience a sort of resurrection, one of a New life being born within us.
New Life
Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage. He has shown us kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia: He has granted us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and he has given us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.
Ezra 9:8-10
We are slaves, slaves of our flesh, slaves of our world and slaves of our sin. Yet we have been promised a New Life, a Life of Milk and Honey, a life of Love and Understanding. Yet we still suffer as Christians, we suffer because we are Christians, because we proclaim our Christianity to all. We suffer more for our convictions than we would if we would denounce or hide them. Or, so we think. Our suffering for the sake of Jesus is our joy, our suffering is our cross.
The Cross of Jesus is the symbol of His suffering and death for our sins, but it is so much more. The Cross is not a sign of defeat, of the end of Death, but a sign of Victory, of the New Life, the Resurrection, the Empty Tomb.The surging’s He suffered, the humiliation and abandonment he endured was not for his sake, but for ours. The Cross is the peace sign of the Christian movement, it is the battle cry of our army and the symbol of our nation. The Cross of Christ is our model, our example our map to the New Life.
Lent offers us the time to examine the Cross of Christ, to feel the wood grain and to touch the blood that drips and runs down its hued sided. Lent offers us the Cross not as a symbol but as a reality.
New Perseverance
Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
2 Thessalonians 1:3-5
We understand perseverance, most of us live it. The Church understands perseverance, she is live proof of it. But we only know of earthly perseverance, Jesus knew of Heavenly perseverance. A perseverance the He taught us on the night He was betrayed. He endured for us and triumphed over for us Death. His perseverance was paramount and divine in nature.
Lent offers us a time to experience perseverance of the Heavenly sort. All we need to do is ask our Heavenly Father for the Grace to preserver and to come through this Lenten session a New Creation. TO allow us to shun temptations and linger in the shadow of the Cross. Heavenly Perseverance is attainable for the asking.
New Death
Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death— they are like the new grass of the morning:
Psalm 90:4-6
Death, for Christians, is not the end, in-fact, for Christians it is only the beginning. Yet our human nature, our fallen understandings define death as an end. Death, of the flesh is such a death, but death of the spirit, there is no such death, to a Christian. For Christ secured for us, upon that Cross, a New Death, a Death in to New Life. A glorious Death, a welcomed Death a Death of everlasting Life.
Look upon the Cross, see with in it the doorway to eternity. Look into the Cross and see beyond it into the glory of Heaven. The Master calling to his own, the Shepard retrieving His sheep. The Cross is our Doorway and the empty tomb is our passage way, Christ as laid out the plan, the road to eternity has been carved out of Calvary and He awaits our arrival.
Lent is a time to explore that road a little bit closer, a time to enter into the Death of our Lord a little deeper and a time to experience a New Death, a Death of the old ways, the way of Sin, a time to be born again, into Christ.
Focus
So, what is your focus for Lent, is it to stop eating candy or to start walking the road to Calvary?
God Bless & Happy Lent
Paul Sposite
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I Want… A Lenten Reflection
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I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
2 Corinthians 11:26-28
We all have wants and needs, statements like this are throughout the bible, someone is always complaining, from the beginning of time until now. Adam, our first parent, complained that he had no one, than he turned around and disobeyed God. The Israelites complained for 40 years and every time they did, God responded, gave them what they asked for and on and on it went….
In the New Testament we see more of the same, I want this, I need that, I desire this…. And so it goes… But the question is, Is that really a bad thing? Is it really a bad thing to want, to desire, to need? Some will say yes, in fact most will say yes.
But I say, maybe not…
Jesus wanted
Sure we never hear him say I want this or that, but He wanted. He wanted to know who people said he was,
[ Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah ] Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
Mark 8:26-28
He wanted people to follow him
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Luke 18:21-23
He wanted friendship
Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Matthew 26:37-39
We all have wants and needs, wanting and needing, in-of-it-self is not a bad thing, it how we want or need that makes the difference. Jesus, from the cross, teaches us the way to want, they way to need, when he utters the words “I am thirsty.
[ The Death of Jesus ] Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”
John 19:27-29
Jesus was asking for his thirst to be satisfied, but not the thirst of humanity, but the thirst for humanity. A subtle difference, but a major one. In the first, OF HUMANITY, this is a biological thirst, a thirst for water the second FOR HUMANITY is a spiritual thirst, a thirst for the souls of man. Jesus is thirsting for us, for our souls, he has offered his life upon the cross, so he can consume us, drink us in and quench not his thirst but ours.
This is the difference, Jesus wants, not for His sake, but always for yours. His need for friendship was not for Him, but for us. He understands our needs, and wants to fulfill them, if we allow Him to. By asking his friends to stay with Him on the night He was betrayed was not to comfort Him, but for Jesus to teach us comfort. His needs and wants only reflect ours. Jesus does not need humanity, but humanity needs Him.
This Lent, ask yourself why you are giving this or that up, why are you giving up smoking or candy or TV? Is it just to satisfy the Lenten obligation? Why are you not eating meat on Fridays, just to be in good standing with the Church? Lent offers us an opportunity to truly discern our needs and wants, to truly offer up to God our prayers and desires. But ask yourself, do you have the Thirst OF or a Thirst FOR, are you observing Lent because its expected of you or because its pleasing to God?
Lent is a time of reflection, a time to clean the spiritual house, use the forty days to cleanse your temple and to learn the true meaning of want and need. The true meaning of Lent, learn from the Christ, who hung upon the cross, not for His wants or needs, but for ours.
God Bless & Happy Lent
Paul Sposite
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Striving for that 90% !
Samuel McChord Crothers once wrote ” try as hard as we may for perfection, the net result of our labors is an amazing variety of imperfectness. We are surprised at our own versatility in being able to fail in so many different ways.” Do you feel like what you accomplish is never quite good enough? Do you often put things off, waiting for ideal conditions?
I could not have said it any better. Well truth be told, it is much better than what I would have said. But I agree 100%
Whitney and the 4 points
First Point
I, like many, was sadden to hear about Whitney Houston’s death. Death, of anyone, is always a tragic and sad moment, Life that has ended always leaves someone sad, even the murder has loved ones. Yes, I am a child of the 80’s, I graduated in ‘84, so the soundtrack to my teenage years was the 80’s. I remember seeing Whitney in “The Body Guard” and hearing “I will always love you” and thinking, what a great and powerful song. That is my favorite song of hers. The power and depth touched me, and it still does. I remember thinking what a mistake it was when she married Bobby Brown and thinking how sad it was when she admitted she was a crack user. What a tragic waste of life, and in the end, it was. So yes, I was saddened, but I was not shocked.
Second Point
I knew, once I heard the news reports, that the eulogies would start, the road to sainthood would be paved and Whitney, by some, would become a symbol of perfection. I listened to people, fans or just happen to be standing their, state there professed love for her, I listened to them talk of her as if she was perfection. I listen to then shaking my head in wonderment and asking myself “How can they sit there and talk about her as if she had nothing to do with her own death.” Whitney had a problem, she was a drug user, she use to be a crack addict, as far as we know she was not using it anymore. But years of abuse has its residual effects on the body. We do know she was found with prescription drugs and alcohol in her system. But as of this posting, we do not know if that was the cause of her death. And I will not even venture to guess, to me that is as wrong as all who make her out to be a saint. Whitney is dead, this much we know, Whitney was, and possible was at the time of her death, a drug user and Whitney was a talent that we only see every so often on this earth.
Third Point
As the news unfolded, and more stars had the opportunity to make sure there voice and face was seen and heard on TV over Whitney’s death, I heard more than once, “Whitney is in heaven now”… This statement, as well-meaning as it is, has always bothered me. As a Catholic, I do not believe we know the fait of anyone, not even ourselves. As a Catholic I do not believe that we know the heart of anyone, so I do not know what was in Whitney’s heart at the time of her death, so I do not know if she was in the good Graces of God or not. Only Whitney and God know that. So for me, a humble, fallen, Human to state that anyone is in heaven is very presumptions. As a Catholic, I do not believe in the once saved always saved theology. to me that just opens the door to , I can do as I please, because I am saved. As a Catholic, if I had to venture a guess as to Whitney’s current state, it would have to be that she, if God wills it, is in Purgatory, not heaven. Where she can purify herself and make ready for the glory that is heaven. Do I know this, absolutely not, do I pray for this for he, absolutely.
Fourth Point
Whitney was a mother, a sister and a daughter, she was loved as such. But she was also a talented singer and entertainer who has millions of fans. But like all of us, she was lost and searching, she was a fallen creation, searching for Gods love and compassion. And sadly she turned to drugs to find it. We all have faults, none of us are perfect. I do not know if Whitney is in Heaven or Hell, but this I do know. To deny the existence of Hell is dangerous, and to deny. The Evil One exist and he greatest lie is this, “Hell does not exist”. I do not know what has become of Whitney’s soul, nor would I venture to guess. But this I do know, only God and Whitney know if she is at peace or not.
God Bless
Paul Sposite
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The Unions Strike Again
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am anti-union, that I see no reason for the union to exist. Where they needed at one point in history, most likely, are they needed now, in 2012, nope, not at all. They are a socialistic organization that only has itself in mind, they care nothing for their membership or the company their members work for nor the community they living and serve. Unions, by there very definition are anti-capitalism, the driving force behind our nations economy. Left up to the unions, we would have no manufacturing in this nation; they would have killed all possibility of production anything at a price the average American can afford.
Think about it, the American manufacturing industry has dwindled in size, we have lost complete industries, why, because unions priced us out of the market. And the argument that we should tax imports more, to create a more level playing field, we that is just plan stupid, its called protectionism. We have tried that before, and it don’t work, the free and open market and trade agreements are the best way to prop up America, the more we can purchase from other countries, the more we help their economy, they more we help their economy, the more they want to purchase our products, and in doing so, helping our economy. But this is a little off topic, what I want to talk about is how Unions are killing America, how unions are a cancer upon America, a cancer that is growing and killing of good industries, killing off education and opportunity. Do not believe me, watch this:
Unions at their best…
Yep, you hear right, “Sometimes life is not fair”, but wait, I thought teachers unions were all about the student, the learning… OH, wait that is just the nice line they feed us, the truth is much to ugly to tell, so they hide it. What is the truth, the truth is teacher unions are looking out for themselves, protecting bad teachers, rewarding mediocre and punishing students and parents with poor performing schools. Fighting any action that would give parents a choice an option to improve their child’s chances at succeeding in life, all in the name of Utopia.
The brotherhood (and sisterhood, I don’t want to piss anyone off by being sexist) of the unions has created a workforce that no longer believes in merit pay, of right to work, rather they have drank the kool-aid of socialism. A job is no longer a privilege, but a right. No longer do we need to prove our ability’s, just buy or time, wait long enough and you are in like flynn. No longer do you have to work hard and prove your worth, rather it has become a God-given right for a pay increase. I do not know about anyone else, but I look at pay increases as a way for my boss and the company to thank me and reward me for doing a good job, above the expected. I am always very humbled when I get a bonus or pay increase, but then again, I’m not in a union, so I know I have to work hard to keep my job, and I have to do what is expected and more to merit a bonus or raise. But if I was in a union, it would be expected, regardless of my personal input. I find that rather disturbing. I know, from my own personal life, that when a co-worker received a pay increase and bonus, larger than mine, yet I knew, as did everyone else, that they did not deserve it, based in work outcomes, I felt like the pay increases and bonuses had no real value. The value of the extra $55.00 per month is not the money, but the satisfaction knowing you were recognized and rewarded for your efforts. Yet, if everyone got that same $55 pay increase, regardless of their value to the company, than that $55 becomes meaningless. This same person who received the bonus and raise was also the first to complain about not receiving a bonus or raise during the hard times, go figure. He was a perfect candidate for a union job.
I have traveled the world teaching union and non-union people, I have negotiated with the State of Michigan to open a Charter School, and had to deal with the local Teachers Union, and I can tell you from experience, there is a major difference in attitude and perception. Unions see things is what can I get and how does it benefit me were as non-unions see things as what is the best over all, how does it benefit all parties involved. Now I know that not every union person feels this way and not every non-union person feels this way, but on average, this has been my experience.
When I have to teach union students, I always have to remind myself that the traditional classroom rules are tossed out the door. The idea of respect, gone, they show up when they want, leave when they feel like it and do as they please, all with no regard to me or the job I must do. True story, I was teaching a 2-day class to a group of union members. One student sat at her computer the first half of the first day doing nothing but checking her Facebook. How do I know, because she was not shy about sharing facts and tid-bits about her grandchildren to the whole class during my lectures. Yep, right in the middle of a lecture she would blurt out a funny little fact. No concern for me, or the other students. Most of whom were more than happy for the interruption. At lunch time she came up to me and said she would not be returning after lunch, I asked hey why, her response, “Because I don’t want to”, when I informed her that I would have to mark her as not completing the course and she would not be able to get her user ID, she responded with “Ya I will, they have to give it to me” and walked out. Did she get her ID, I do not know, but my guess is yep, she was union. Ah, what a joy…
I take my job and my performance seriously, and when something like that happens, I find it hard to not take it personally. Teaching is what I do, I love it and I always try to give my very best, yet when you are faced with the union mentality, well it all sort of goes out the window, I find myself teaching not my best, but just enough to get through the day. And I hate that feeling, I feel like I have failed. But I find that it is just easer that way, I find that I am not fighting the union mentality as much, they don’t care, so why should I. What a horrible way to go through life. I take no pride in it, but there is no other way to deal with it, I am stuck teaching them, regardless of whether they want it or not, so I might as well make it as painless for them and myself. The odd thing is, my evaluations are better when I put no effort into it, when I expect nothing from them. They reward me for mediocrity. Amazing!
Yep, Unions, the down fall of America and innovation. They need to be busted up and never return. Plain and simple!
God Bless
Paul Sposite
