Welcome back

I haven't posted here in a while because I wanted all visitors to see my post about my school's grant campaign and vote. However, we were not among the top ten vote-getters. So that campaign is done...and these posts return.

I have also decided to leave facebook for an indefinite period of time. I used to post links to this site on my wall, but that was all I was really using it for. This makes the communication process better for me by not replying to comments in two places and better address what I feel is my target audience: you.

Not all of my friends appreciate my faith. They have been told about the Good News from me and countless others, but reject it. These posts have never been intended to convert as much as to encourage. They were not to encourage those I already know (and already encourage in other ways), but to encourage those that I felt God was telling me were out there and needed to hear what I felt he was telling me write.

On that day the Lord called on you to weep and mourn, to shave your head and put on sackcloth. But you feast and celebrate. You eat meat and drink wine: "Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!" This reaches the ears of the Lord - You shall not be pardoned this wickedness till you die, says the Lord.
-Isaiah 22:12-14

One of my good friends, who does appreciate my enthusiasm for my faith, told me I go deeper with my reflections. The problem with that for me is that I see things as simply as I put them. I don't have any deeper to go. My faith is accurately reflected in my actions.

Deep debates surround a lot issues between Catholics and Protestants like whether Mary was the mother of God or the mother of Jesus. Catholics prefer the mother of God, while Protestants prefer the mother of Jesus. Either way, it doesn't change how I live my life.

I believe you should do what God tells you to do. If he tells you it is time to mourn, you should mourn and not party. I realize parts of scripture use figurative language and are not to be taken literally, but other parts are to be taken literally. The Church fathers and Biblical scholars can provide more thorough reasoning for why it should be interpretted one way or another, but my reflections, as simple as they may be, don't contradict what they have to say, but provide a bridge for those unfamiliar with such sources.

I wish I could be all things to all people like Paul, but that's not my role to play. Others have deeper insights that are necessary for their faith journey and others' journeys as well. There may come a time as I mature in my faith that those deeper insights will be able to fill a void that I don't even realize I have in myself right now. In the meantime, I feel I have been given a gift of putting things simply and bridging the gap from where some are to the next step they are to take.