Walking in to my old school...

This is the first time in over 13 years that I visited by junior high school, Ben Franklin. When I walked into it, I felt a weight on my chest.

 -The weight of time-

It waits for no one. I never really thought anything special about Ben Franklin -but today I do...I was there.
My friends were there.

When I walked the halls, stared at the old pool, cringed in the locker rooms, and glared down the old hallways, I felt an emptiness inside.
I forgot so much -even though I spent so much of my life there. People always say, "If I knew then what I know now", I keep telling myself that, but I'm really not sure how it applies.
I just feel lonely when thinking about it... I guess it's like walking into your old house that you grew up in and now see a new family living in it.

You want to remember it as you knew it.

You want everything to be the same.

How to speak any language

OK, I'm back. I was in Mexico building a house for a family. I'm not even going to try to write all of the experience down here. But it was amazing. On Friday, the last day of the time spent w/ the family I experienced something great.

The entire family came to visit with tons of food ready for a fiesta! Car doors were swung open blasting salsa music and there was a ton of food for everyone to eat. Although I could not speak Spanish and they could not speak English -magic was happening as we both spoke a language we both could understand... the language of love.

Truest Truth

Here is something to ponder. -While sitting in traffic at a redlight, I glance out my right window and see a women limping from an acident. -While running on a treadmill, I look out the gym window to see a man with no legs -strolling along in a wheelchair. -While racing to work late yesterday in the rain, another car speeding around the bend alomst collides with me and my wife. ...And then I think of these words,

"BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD -THERE GO I"

Fatigue makes cowards of us all...

Those are the words of the great coach Vince Lombardi. The first time i heard them was over Christmas break while in college. I worked in a trailer making fruit baskets and after making a million of them in the freezing cold my boss would often yell in my direction that famous phrase. Thinking of that phrase and the truth it holds leads me to think that one of a person's greatest virtues will be PERSEVERANCE. I think that in life we start things and make commitments that in time start to wear us out. Our once enthusiasm is gone and the gas tank is reading E.

-I like to think of these times as seasons in our lives-

As we all know, seasons will come and go. So I say press on and I bet in time your season will pass. Stay focused on what brought you to the place you currently at. Renew you passion and vision. Persevere to the end!

Baseball gloves and karate

The sun is finally out in western Pa. If your not from here, then you don't understand that we have to take advantage of things like this because it is a fact that this part of the United States gets the least amount of sunny days.
Right after work, my wife and I grab our baseball gloves, a Frisbee and went out to a nearby park to...well, play.

-Something great was happening as we were our running around and acting like fools in front of a bunch of "New Galilee hoods."

As we tossed the baseball around, tried to throw the Frisbee in the wind (I got hit in the jaw) , and practiced karate;

the bond between us was growing, our love for each other was blossoming.

I am grateful for the time spent with her yesterday out in that field.

Marriage is great and I have a great partner to live it out with!

Where is your Heart?

At first glance, this seems elementary. It's beating in my chest right now! Correct. But my question is more in the line of what someone would say to their lover on Valentines Day. Like, "I love you with all my heart." We know what this means. I love you with everything that I am, my whole being. Following this thought I wanted to write a little. Jesus said, "For where you treasure is there will your heart be found also." Pretty insightful. Martin Luther said that the best way to gauge the human heart was by two things...

1. Time

2. Money

If we think about these two categories they are very telling about a person. TIME: Just write down what you do on a daily basis, hour by hour. And then at the end of the month look at what things you spend the most time doing. Easy enough. I'll bet the things you spend the most time on are the things where your heart is invested. MONEY: Same idea here. Write down all the things you have spent your hard earned cash on and at the end of the week or month, wala! Your priorities will rise up to meet your eyes like the morning sun.

Here are some of the best things said about this topic:

-"Activities of life become a manifestation of what lies in the individuals heart." -"When someone sells his heart to someone or something, every action of life becomes a manifestation, proof of purchase, of the sale." -"What is dear to man, that is his god." I'm sure this comes as a challenge to most of us. What is ruling your heart? Or better said, "Who is ruling your heart?"

Danger!

A STORY: A man wanted to find the most dangerous word in the Bible and after much time came up with the word tomorrow. It is a thief, he said, that word robs dreamers of their dreams and the talented of their greatest achievements. C.H. Spurgeon once said, "tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow! Alas, tomorrow never comes! It is in no calender except the almanac of fools!" THE APPLICATION: Life is so short. I wonder what you have been putting off? I wonder what desires and dreams you have never pursued? I wonder if there is love in your heart to give? You never know about tomorrow; do it now...

Martian

Last night my wife and I watched a movie called, Martian Child. It was about a boy who got adopted and acted like he was from Mars.

I don't really want to let you all know how I felt about the movie... since it was unbelievably bad.

My point is making this connection: Paul (as in the apostle) has said that, "we are strangers and aliens in this world." In the movie, the boy insisted he was from a different planent with different rules. As Christians, we belong to another place...another system. God's. As we journey through this life we are to take on the values and ethics of a heavenly perspective and in doing so we will be a reflection of our Lord to those around us. Live on Christian Martian!

Getting Sloppy

Living life can be sloppy. I started a new class yesterday and was frantically running around getting all of my stuff ready for school. "Great!" , I thought as I had everything in my hands running out the door, "I have everything I need and am leaving with just enough time to get me to where I need to be" I thought. This is where the sloppy part comes in. As I swung open my house door, a huge man was standing at my doorway with the screen door open. I screamed and asked him, "what in the world are you doing?" He replied that he has been knocking and that he was sorry. He then told me that he needed gas because he ran out. -THE DILEMMA- = I have to be in Pittsburgh at 1:00. It is 12:00 now. If I give this man a ride to the gas station, I will be late for my class!

What to do... what to do... what to do... what to do...

I told the guy I would give him a ride. I got to class 25 minutes late because of it. Everyone looked at me funny as I walked into class. THE POINT: Life is sloppy when you take time for other people. God may ask you to do things that are not part of your plans. He does this to stretch you. Jesus modeled this best as He left the splendors of heaven for a desperate people...you and I.

Favorite Quote

I can remember buying the POISON tape "look what the cat dragged in" when I was in the 4th grade. For me, this was way ahead of my time, as everyone else was listening to DJ jazzy Jeff and whatnot. The thing I want to bring up about that tape is a certain quote from the song, CRY TOUGH. The song is a powerhouse. But what I really love about it is when it goes, SOMETIMES A RAINBOW IS BETTER THAN A POT OF GOLD. This quote has been a favorite of mine because it says so much in such a little amount of breathe. Many times in life we focus so much on the final step of the journey and miss the adventure that brought us there. As I live my life I want to take it all in. I want to roll down the window and let the cool summer air wisp across my face. I want to put on my snow boots and take a walk in the frigid winter months. I hope you will do the same in your journey.

Recently I read an article about, "how one sees themselves through their own eyes." It went on to say that people generally take what the most important people think about them and project it within. This idea is called the "looking glass self." So I was wondering who the most important people in my life and in your lives were and are? For me, growing up it was my family. Growing up in an Italian/Greek family shaped the way I think, act and play. My parents were a great influence on me and have shaped me into a pretty outstanding adult (of course that is my opinion, and at this point, it is the only one that counts). To take this a step further, I wonder how many of you wonder about how God sees you? Is He mean? Is He nice? Or is He a perfect balance of truth and love and justice? Ultimately, I think, how are viewed by God may have great effects on the way we live our lives on this earth.

Today i found myself thinking about people in my past that at one time or another, were very close to me and now- are not. I am sure I could guess at why...but I do not want too. In my office I have a poem that I received while I was a sophomore in college. I now have it pasted on my file cabinet. I have not paid much attention to it, but today it caught my eye... EVEN SUCH IS TIME: Even such is time, which takes in trust Our youth, our joys, and all we have, And pays us but with age and dust, Who in the dark and silent grave, When we have wandered all our ways Shuts up the story of our days, And from which the earth, and the grave, and dust The Lord shall raise me up, I trust.

First time

This is my first official blogger. Part of me feels like a tool for writing this. The other side feels like people might acutally read something I write and like it and respond. I guess this is the place where I should tell you some things about me: 1. I am 28 years old 2. I am married 3. I have a lab named Charlie. He speaks english, is taller than my wife, smokes, and likes to bark when he gets no attention. 4. I like to read, exercise, watch movies, hang with my wife, and listen to music. *when i say, "i like to listen to music -what i really mean is, I like to listen to Bruce Springsteen." 5. Sometimes i say the darndest things.