Rain

Today we received a lot of rain, and it still continues.  The rain has run through every crack of houses, buildings, and trees.  Also, it has soaked the ground and provided the city with some very much needed water.  We can compare the rain that has deluged our city with the grace we receive from the Holy Spirit and the sacraments.  The grace runs through our body and purges us from sin, then it soaks into our bodies, filling our bodies with the sanctifying grace.  The sacraments are a way that God draws us closer to him and the way that we can accept him.  God wants us to be with him, its up to us to accept him.

http://ladyilonwick.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/rain-rain-go-away-please/

Draw Near to God

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you (James 4:8).

We come closer to God through worship. "God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). We all try to lead our own lives but forget who is in charge; God always makes sure to leave clues to help guide us on our path to Him. Our relationship with God is not focused on our relationship with God through others, but it is our direct relationship, in love, when we dedicate time in our lives to meditate on God that we are drawn to Him. We must focus on God.

However, if we fill our lives with the message of God, but do not act upon it; if we read the Bible and spend time in prayer but do not focus on what it teaches us or try to fix our lives, we are hypocrites. We could spend every waking hour listening to the homilies of priests, in fact, even devote our lives to God and still feel empty. We may be able to quote directly from the Bible, but if we do not understand what we are taught, we are not coming closer to God..

Many people around you say they are Christians, but the truth is, they are hypocrites. They do not devote their lives to understanding and drawing closer to God. Even myself have felt times of dry spells, where I feel the time I have set aside for God just seems to be futile. Many believe their prayers go unanswered, but that is because they do not seek to grow in relationship with God. The Scripture says, "Draw near to God, and He WILL draw near to you." We still may feel lost; but by seeking out God we ARE drawing closer to him. He helps to comfort us in the midst of difficult circumstances. In sorrow, he provides hope. In doing so we come closer to God as his children.

In time spent reading the Bible and in prayer, we must devote our time to focus on God. One way to focus on him is to ask how we may come to better know him in every aspect of our lives. He will help us by revealing himself to draw us even further into communion with him and will help us to put him before us everyday. By having a thriving relationship with God, and time spent seeking to learn and understand how God acts in every aspect of our lives we create a thriving relationship with the Lord.

The Unity of Boston

My brother and his school are taking their annual eight grade trip to Boston.  Due to the events last week, we were unsure that he would be going on the trip, but they decided to go.  As one might expect, we are all a little worried and on edge about them being there at such a time.  His teachers have made a website where they can post all of the pictures that they took that day.  It is a bit reassuring to see that everyone is having a good time and being safe.  One thing stood out to me in the pictures they took, the pictures of the people unifying against the bombings.  There are buses and subway cars that say "We are one Boston" and sidewalks covered in chalk writings about the bombings that even stretch 7 feet up onto walls of buildings.  The final picture I saw was a small memorial that people had erected against a fence blocking people from the scene of the incident.  While it was small, it was very moving and exemplified the emotions that the people felt.  All of the pictures showed me that while the city was shaken by the incident, they still stand strong and unified.  We could all learn a lesson or two from Boston.  Everyone dropped all their differences and unified against these horrible acts of terror.  As members of the Church united in Christ, we should all put our differences aside and stand up together against the forces that persecute the Church.

http://regisboston2013.tumblr.com/

SWAP (Students with Amazing Potential)

http://studentswithamazingpotential.com/

SWAP, Students with Amazing Potential, is a ministry created by Chapelwood United Methodist Church to serve at-risk teenagers in the Spring Branch School District. The students who participate are selected by the counselors at their various schools. Volunteers from Chapelwood, including my parents and myself, meet with these students on Saturdays once a month. For my sophomore service project, my family and I became SWAP mentors. Two or three mentors were assigned to a small group of teens. The mentors council and befriend the students and potentially nurture them for through the rest of their school years.

The theme of this year’s SWAP program was “Legacy”. The message we were trying to convey to students was that they all embody many positive traits that have been given to them by their ancestors, including their parents. These traits could be talents, physical characteristics, or cultural traditions. The second part of the message was for the students to value these traits and to build on them so they have a positive legacy to pass along to others. God gave all of us vocations in life to help in his glorious mission. By recognizing theirs they become more fit to lead, to serve, and to be men and women for others.

The activities we shared with the students supported the overall theme. We made scrapbooks, talked about the environment and conservation, encouraged their talents theatrically and athletically, and also performed service projects with them at a local Hispanic church, Esperanza. There we helped paint the Church and participated in worship with them.

I believe this project guided me to become a man for others. It was easy for me to see the positive impact that the SWAP mentors, particularly me as a young man, had on these students. The project was also consistent with my longer term goal to have a positive impact in the communities where I live and work. The project also strengthened my Christian foundation by following Jesus’ call to serve those less fortunate than ourselves. These students are all God’s children and deserve every opportunity to have the fullest and most complete lives possible. By serving them I grow in my own call to be a man for others.

It was very rewarding to participate in SWAP with my parents.  We share the common desire to serve our God and the world. We built some family memories from these projects and they will continue to affect us in how we view the world and help us praise God’s glory. We plan to continue to participate in community service activities as a family unit and with our church. I feel that I myself have grown over the past year as I prepare my heart and soul to be a servant in God’s community and I hope to continue to be a servant for the rest of my life.

The Church in the Life of the Faithful

The Church plays a major role in the life of the faithful through many aspects. It is in the Church that we are brought to God. The Church provides us with the law of Christ, passed down through his Apostles. The Sacraments help to sustain us on our journey to better understand God. Finally, we are inspired by the saints and all those before us who came from the Church to hep guide our own lives. Our lives revolve around seeking holiness, to find Christ. By seeking Christ we find ourselves amongst others seeking Christ and helping many find their way. That is the Church, and her Apostles are our guides. The Church is the People of God, filled with the Spirit; "For those who believe in Christ, who are reborn not from a perishable but from an imperishable seed through the word of the living God, not from flesh but from the Holy Spirit, are finally established as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people . . . who in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God." We are bound together in the Mystical Body of Christ, which shows that the Church is an important part of our everyday lives.

Sacraments help to sustain us on our journey to better understand God. They sanctify man and give worship to God, but they ultimately lead us on our path to communion. It draws us closer to Christ and strengthens God's will which helps us to live like Christ. Because sacraments are instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, Christ shared the sacraments as the primary means of building communion between God and man.

We are called to be living witnesses to Christ. First, each of us must live by the teachings of Christ, which were passed down by the Apostles through the Church; second, we must fulfill our duties to the best of our abilities not only by our example that we as Christians are called to evangelize those around us, but also by being prepared to witness Christ at every opportunity.

The Church helps to lead us to God. The Church helps us to fulfill our mission and inspires us to help others in theirs. The sacraments help to put us back on track with God and act as guides to draw us nearer to him. By being witnesses to Christ, we fulfill our Universal Call to Holiness and help in our mission to evangelize the world. As such, the Church participates fully in every aspect of our lives.