Bottom Line

I was praying while driving back to the house this afternoon - feeling down about events this past year. "God, this can't be Your will...Well, it's obviously Your will to allow it...so I guess passing through this IS Your will...But when are You going to set things right?" And suddenly the "ground" under me was a bit more solid. Because if it is within His will, then there isn't failure; it's not the end of the story. He didn't give me any indication how or when He would bring something of value out of this; but the realization that this was within His permissive will made a difference.

The second movement in my prayer had to do with the thoughts that have come to me repeatedly these past weeks: "Give up. Stop struggling like this. Why do you 'stay'?" And the answer that came from within, very matter-of-factly, was "Because He wants me to." No emotion to it, no passion in it. At the deepest part of me though, there He is. He is my reason for being...I love Him. And its not flowery; there's no sweetness right now. But there is commitment - there is Love. I feel frazzled and so self-centered with all my concerns, but somehow the Holy Spirit has managed to plant this seed deep down, to lay this foundation. Isn't this exactly what St. Paul wrote about though? "The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit" (Romans 5:5). What MERCY - God enabling us to Love Him! If He hadn't, a weak heart like mine would have given out long ago.

My prayer for us in this new year - "God, let this foundation You laid in us through Baptism endure. Clear away whatever we've built on it that isn't of You. Let us have the peace of trusting in You, trusting in this good future You have planned."

"Suit Up!"

While I've been on Christmas break, I've spent some time catching up on How I Met Your Mother. Barney would drive that Escalade I wrote about in my last post!

"SIN ROX"

I was actually behind an Escalade with that license plate the other day! About 10% of my brain was offended, but the other 90% gave way to laughter. It was just so cartoonish - it raised "piss on" decals to the level of a quip from Mark Twain! Who but a cartoon villain actually goes around praising sin?

A second's reflection told me that he wasn't praising "sin" like the Nazi's extermination of six million Jews though. No, he was celebrating the "naughty," fun things we do - like getting blitzed and hooking up with a hot stranger for the night. 'Cause dude, that ROCKS! Ooh, but what if another dude got blitzed and hooked up with your little sister for the night? Would that rock? If you're human at all, I hope you'll say "no." But then...it'd be a total bummer if you had to rethink a vanity plate that rox as hard as yours.

New Website

Just wanted to put it out there that I'm in the process of creating a new website, Explaining Christianity.com. In a few months time my first book, The God Who is Love: Explaining Christianity From Its Center, will be published; and this is the site that will allow people to look at excerpts, read endorsements, and even download a free copy. The book will be offered in paperback through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-A-Million, etc.; but I don't want price to stand in anyone's way. The site isn't ready to allow downloads yet, but please check out its layout and let me know what you think. And hey - MERRY CHRISTMAS!