Images of God

I personally like the image of our relationship with God as a spouse. Today Isaiah 61:10-62:5 includes: As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you." However, I have known people abused by their fathers or other men, who have had trouble with the masculine image of God the Father because they never had a good understanding of how fathers are supposed to treat their children. Likewise, not every one marries young, not every bride is a virgin, so this image may be difficult for some to appreciate. Fortunately, God's love is so great and all encompassing that those searching for Him will find in through the many images of Him provided in scripture (and perhaps come to a better understanding of how those other figures are expected to act).

Peace.

Confidence

My wife and children are relying on me more than usual after our third daughter Emily was born Friday during a C-Section. I sometimes feel like I can do it all, but need to remember that it is really God that brings about any good from what I do. Today, a passage from Proverbs 9:1-18 stood out to me: "If you are wise, it is to your own advantage; and if you are arrogant, you alone shall bear it."

So how is wisdom defined? "Wisdom is fear of the Lord." Just like a healthy amount of confidence is good, a healthy fear of the Lord is good. I have heard this before, but need to be reminded of it often.

Peace.

Jess and Larry Marry

I went to Jess and Larry Ganni's wedding today. Nancy was in the wedding, so I had a lot of time on my hands before the actual wedding. When I was in the back of the church I found a couple of incredible prayer cards/books and contact information to find out more like the Divine Promise, the St. Gertrude chaplet (whose revelation has since been proven false 7/4/2016), the green scapular, etc. It was a big turning point for me.

Etna Flood

Etna flooded today. It's the area where the Blarney Stone is located. The place where Shel had her wedding reception. The first and last time I've been there. (It hasn't opened since as of 7/5/2016.)

PSSA

PSSA's don't mean anything to anyone, but I am 73rd percentile in Reading and 98 in Math

Driver's License

I completed Driver's Education without much problem. The first time they took me on a busy road, I tended to stay too far right and even brushed the curb once until I got used to it.

The Driver's License test was another story. The first time I took one turn by Duncan Manor thinking it was a 90 degree turn and it was a little sharper than that. I don't know if I had failed at that point or not, but I wasn't feeling good. I tried to remember to look both ways at the next intersection. I looked the first way and there was no one. I looked the second way and there was a car, so I waited until it passed and pulled out. However, by that time there was a car coming coming from the first direction. We didn't have an accident, but it was close enough to make the instructor swear, so I had failed by that point.

The second time I didn't even get past parallel parking. I took my one hand off the wheel to look behind me like my dad had taught me and the instructor told me to keep both hands on the wheel. If I kept both hands on the wheel, I couldn't see behind me, so I estimated as best I could. When the instructor told me to stop and look in my side view to see what I saw, I told him I didn't see anything. Then he made me get out of the car, so I could see I ran over a cone. He felt the side view mirror should be focused on the rear wheel of the car, so you can parallel park without turning around and taking any hand off the wheel.

The third time I did everything the way I did with my dad and driver's ed instructor. When I got back, I failed for doing 30 in a 25. That's the way driver's ed taught me because driving too slow is dangerous with everyone else doing 30 in a 25.

So, I had to reapply because there's only room for three attempts on each application. The fourth time I again parallel parked without turning around, led a parade going 20 in the 25 just in case, and finally passed.

Career Test

I was thinking about being an elementary school teacher since I like helping my sisters and their friends, but I'm so good at math that my parents had me take a career assessment to see what it suggested. It suggested that I would be a good teacher.