A Rosary Give Away

Two wonderful moms are hosting a Rosary Give away!!! Go on over to Lacy's blog, Catholic Icing, and enter to win a Rosary from Sarah at The Clay Rosary Girl. Sarah's rosaries are beautiful. If you don't win you'll probably want to purchase one! I'd love to win the Red Rose Rosary with Immaculate Hearts. If I don't win I'm putting it on my Christmas List! Enjoy your visits with Lacy and Sarah. You'll be glad you visited them.

Mary Undoer of Knots

I ordered this today. I ordered both the Novena booklet and the rosary.

Thanks to Peggy at Don't know much about the Rosary for the link.

I have several "knots" in my life I need to untangle.

Let nothing disturb you

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things pass away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
He who has God
Finds he lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.
— St. Teresa of Avila

from The Anchoress

A Powerful Video!

This is a true testament of how the will of God can pull you through anything (grab the Kleenex)

Read before watching video.

A son asked his father, 'Dad, will you take part in a marathon with me?' The father who, despite having a heart condition, says 'Yes'. They went on to complete the marathon together. Father and son went on to join other marathons, the father always saying 'Yes' to his son's request of going through the race together. One day, the son asked his father, 'Dad, let's join the Ironman together.'

To which, his father said 'Yes' ...

For those who didn't know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island

Father and son went on to complete the race together.

View the Video HERE!

This is a powerful video! After attending the Abilities Show just last week and seeing the people, children, and families there and what they go through everyday it is all the more powerful!

Sharing

I was wondering about the net today looking for some new books to read and I found a few things to share.

A book by Pastor Joshua ChoonMin Kang caught my attention. The book is titled Deep Rooted in Christ.



"Deep-Rooted in Christ speaks to the heart. It urges, gently but ever so persistently, that our hearts should always be turning, turning into the light of Christ, turning toward the Lover of our souls, turning into the Way and the Truth and the Life-'til by turning, turning we come round right.' At the same time this book warms the heart, constantly drawing and encouraging, never pushing and condemning." From the foreword by Richard Foster

I'm putting this on my Wish List. I looked up the Pastor's website and found a piece written in his column titled, The Wisdom of Waiting for the Hope Filled New Year. Go here to read the column. This part jumped out at me:

"In order for us to capture the hope God has prepared for the New Year, we must wait temporarily and prepare ourselves."

Are you waiting? Preparing yourself? For what?

Also in my email today I received this from Max Lucado:

Laws of the Lighthouse:

- Love God more than you fear hell.
– Once a week, let a child take you on a walk.
– Make major decisions in a cemetery.
– When no one is watching, live as if someone is.
– Succeed at home first.
– Don’t spend tomorrow’s money today.
– Pray twice as much as you fret.
– Listen twice as much as you speak.
– Only harbor a grudge when God does.
– Never outgrow your love of sunsets.
– Treat people like angels; you will meet some and help make some.
– ‘Tis wiser to err on the side of generosity than on the side of scrutiny.
– God has forgiven you; you’d be wise to do the same.
– When you can’t trace God’s hand, trust his heart.
– Toot your own horn and the notes will be flat.
– Don’t feel guilty for God’s goodness.
– The book of life is lived in chapters, so know your page number.
– Never let the important be the victim of the trivial.
– Live your liturgy.

To sum it all up:
Approach life like a voyage on a schooner. Enjoy the view. Explore the vessel. Make friends with the captain. Fish a little. And then get off when you get home.

From The Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado


This devotional is worth a look too. It is by Joni Tada Erickson and is titled - Pearls of Great Price. I think I'll be purchasing this soon.


And for some fictional reading I found this book - THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Looks like an interesting book. This one may be purchased soon too!



What I'm reading now is - The Little Book by Selden Edwards. Interesting, confusing, and strange. I'll read to the end but not sure if I like it.

Chris Tomlin - How Great is our God

"Blessed are they who do not see and yet believe..." John. 20:29

Fireproof - Go see it!

Friday night Lori and I went a saw the new movie starring Kirk Cameron called Fireproof. I highly recommend the movie. The theater was packed and it was a mixture of older and younger people. It was just like a church crowd. I heard a few Amens doing the movie and when it ended we all clapped. That doesn't happen too often. It's nice to see a good movie come out. A movie you can take your daughter to and not worry about the content. The Samuel Goldwyn Films were involved with the film. They were also involved with the movie Amazing Grace which I wrote about here. Fireproof is from the creators of Facing the Giants. Another good movie. Other companies involved are Affirm films and Sherwood Pictures.


Fireproof - Never leave your partner behind!



The movie has a great soundtrack as well. One of the songs from the movie is titled Love is not a Fight by Warren Barfield. You can watch the video here.

The official website for the movie is here.

Find out more about Kirk and his ministry here.

From The Internet Movie Database:

Lt. Caleb Holt lives by the old firefighter's adage: Never leave your partner behind. Inside burning buildings, it's his natural instinct. In the cooling embers of his marriage, it's another story.

After a decade of marriage, Caleb and Catherine Holt have drifted so far apart that they are ready to move on without each other. Yet as they prepare to enter divorce proceedings, Caleb's dad asks his son to try an experiment: The Love Dare.

While hoping The Love Dare has nothing to do with his parents' newfound faith, Caleb commits to the challenge. But can he attempt to love his wife while avoiding God's love for him? Will he be able to demonstrate love over and over again to a person that's no longer receptive to his love? Or is this just another marriage destined to go up in smoke?

Hot Chocolate

I just had to share this email I received from a friend today. It is so true!

Hot Chocolate!

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a
reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now
retired.

During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in
their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor
went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an
assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some very plain looking,
some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot
chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:
"Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving
behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only
the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.
The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot
chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even
hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not
the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began
eying each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position
in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life.
The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot
chocolate God has provided us.

God makes the hot chocolate, we humans choose the cups.

The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the
best of everything that they have.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly