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Showing posts from December, 2007

Rejection & Failure

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It’s a message that’s been haunting me for some time now. People keep bringing it up: they didn’t get the part, their work was turned down for publishing, they didn’t get the job they wanted or the person their heart was after. Who’s a stranger to rejection? Rejection stems from a fear of failure. I’ve been speaking to a friend about this who is also a writer and struggles with rejection as well. I’ve been rejected many times. My music and songwriting has been rejected along with my photography, writing, painting and commercial art. I’ve submitted my writing to a slew of publishing houses, agents and even magazines. “Not my cup of tea”, or “this isn’t our thing”. Discouragement and fear set in, but for some reason, I didn’t give up. It not only has to do with successors in life- it holds many facets of trials in life, especially relationships with people. So I pray that God, who gives you hope, will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. May you overflow with hope t

Dysfuntional Christmas

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(Actual photo of dad's lobsters.) Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to be spending time with the family this Christmas, however, there are a few quirks that need adjusting on many levels when it comes to the whole “Christmas festivities”, which happens to fall on Christmas Eve for us. The entire family rounds up at my parents’ house at 7pm. Every single year, my father makes the feast of 7 fishes, because it’s basically the Italian tradition. During the course of a decade, one by one, each family member has begun to start the process of developing some type of allergy to shellfish. My father, being the retired owner of a fish market down on South Street Seaport in New York---he wouldn’t have Christmas any other way. Fish was it. That was the permanent menu from now on. We don’t know any other way. The first sister to develop a shellfish allergy had the worst reaction of all. She literally blew up like a tick and her throat closed up. She had to be sent to the emergency room. Now, be

Love: Is It Based On Race, Gender Or Religion?

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Lately, I’ve been rummaging around in message boards and tinkering with the minds of many people. I brought up the whole homosexuality vs. religion debate of course, and bumped into the same wall about the interpretation of the bible. Why do many people equate homosexuality with sex only? When speaking about a heterosexual couple, people tend to think, oh well isn’t that lovely, these two will get married eventually, have kids and live a happy life. But, when speaking about a gay couple, people usually gravitate to the concepts of a sexual nature only. I had a discussion with one woman on this message board who asked me what I thought about the passages in Romans, where it speaks about how people burned with passion and lust towards each other of the same sex. She gave me these scriptures: Romans 1:26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural. Romans 1:27 And in the same way also the men abando

Should Fundamentalist Christians Have Children?

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The other night while watching television with my girlfriend, I saw a documentary on the Yates massacre that happened back in 2002. Andrea Yates killed all 5 of her small children. Yates had the perfect life, until her husband Rusty got her more into a cult-like state and told her that they didn’t need so many materialistic things. So, they moved from a house into a trailer, and from a trailer into a bus. Andrea never said anything. She obeyed her husband, because that’s what the bible tells us to do. She became a complete zombie diagnosed with a mental problem, but, it wasn’t so much as a mental problem as it was her being brainwashed by her radical religious husband. Andrea was a normal woman when she married Rusty. She took care of her children and was a fun-loving mother who had a head on her shoulders. Little by little, the process of her husband’s brainwashing took effect and she started to literally deteriorate before everyone’s eyes, including her fa

Repent of Your Sins!

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It made sense for a long time: love the sinner, but hate the sin. I understand it and I know what it means, but sometimes, something just doesn’t settle right within my heart about that statement. It’s like me saying, ‘love the preacher, but hate his/her sermon.’ It means you just don’t believe in what the preacher is preaching. Is it simply not liking their character? Doesn’t the preach go hand-in-hand with the person’s character? Or are we listening to something that’s been told over and over like a broken record? There are two categories I’m going to put “sin” in: human nature type of sin and evil sin. There’s a distinct difference between the two. Human nature sin is where all of our weaknesses fail to make us perfect, ie: Christ. We keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again. We can correct them of course, just like quitting smoking, but there are other sins waiting around the corner for us. It’s called “life”. Life happens and

People Suck

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Have you ever been used by somebody you cared about--not even necessarily relationship-wise, but used in the terms of them taking advantage of your good nature? We’re supposed to give without expectations and expect nothing more than a ‘thank you’ or some sort of appreciation. But what if that appreciation isn’t reciprocated or acknowledged? It shouldn’t matter, right? But, deep down inside, we feel this horrible twinge of sadness, because we've done so much for this person and we didn’t even get an acknowledgment. What’s an acknowledgement? Maybe it’s just a “thank you”. Or maybe, it’s some sort of gesture to indicate that it was needed; a sigh of relief. I was really hurt by a friend today. I feel bitter. I feel used. I feel all these negative things that I want to get out of my system. I hate feeling this way. I want to understand “why”, but sometimes, there are people out there that are brought up differently, or they don’t have it in their hearts to realize what they’re doing

She's Gay! Throw Her Out of Church!

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Is it called “promoting sin” or reassuring everyone that our sins have been taken away by Christ? You decide. If everything were out in the open while being inside a church, how many people would hide their heads? When the light falls upon those who sin…everyone gets the spotlight ---everyone. Not one person is exempt. “Throw him out of our church! He’s gay! He’s a sinner!” “Throw her out of the church! She’s a divorcee remarried to her new husband while her ex is still alive! She’s a sinner!” “Throw that family out of church! They had a seafood dinner last night and that’s detestable in God’s eyes!” They’re sinners! “Throw that kid out of our church! He had an impure thought about the girl he walks to school with! He’s a sinner!” “Throw that man out of our church! He shaved his beard! He’s a sinner!” “Throw her out of church! She’s told a white lie! She told her friend that her hair looked great, when in fact, it was just awful! She’s a sinner! “Throw her out! She’s a gossip! She to

Homosexuality: The Common Denominator?

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A lot of people say it doesn’t matter. They say they don’t care and ‘to each their own’ , but the truth is, they do care, or at least they’re curious about it. There seems to be a major fascination with the unknown, and sometimes, there’s a bigger fascination with something that’s known all to well to them. When hit between the eyes with the question that tugs on their own sexuality, they pull away and say it doesn’t matter, or deny anything that has any involvement with them. There’s a saying that whenever somebody hates something about a particular person, it usually has a lot to do with whatever they hate about themselves. Do you find this to be true? I hate stubbornness in a person. The reason for that is because I’m stubborn myself. I don’t want to be beaten at my own game. (Probably a bad example), but you get my idea. Repressed feelings can only be washed up ashore in a negative light. It comes off as defensive, combative and usually holds a sword of pain. Instead of avoiding w

Hell On Earth?

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S ometimes I wonder if I’m living it: hell on earth. Other times, I feel like God’s on my side. Some say that hell is a compilation of depression, anxiety, anger, pride, lust and pain. Doesn’t that fit the description of life here on earth? We all go through depressive states, anxiety of different forms, and other things that we can all relate to. There are people who believe that life here on earth is hell. Of course this goes against what I believe in, however, I feel that evil is much more prominent than 'good' here on earth. There are many people who insist that there can’t possibly be a God with all these bad things happening in our world. I can see their why they think that, but I also know what I feel to be true. Enslavement to sin: human nature and human desires. How do we manage to be perfect? Perfection is only seen in Christ, Jesus. We can’t possibly live up to His perfection, however they do tell us that we can try to be more like him the best we can. How do we kn

One of the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride

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H ave you ever wondered if you’ve changed over the years? Have you ever looked back on your life and realized you’ve made some major adjustments? Even in relationships, sometimes the two people change. Sometimes, only one person changes. Or, can we even say that any one of them have changed at all? Whether you prefer to call it growth or you prefer to call it a few steps back, if the two people aren’t looking in the same direction in life, the relationship usually falls apart. How can two people stay together if they take different paths? That one fork in the road can totally devastate the relationship. Maybe later, the two roads join together, and you can continue holding hands again, and other times, those two roads never meet again. In my opinion, “pride” is one of the biggest things that destroys relationships of any kind. When pride gets in the way of forgiveness and compassion, it becomes cold, almost spiritless and indifferent. They say it takes a big person to say they’re sorr

Congratulations Tamar!

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Yesterday brought good news. My friend Tamar , who is a talented writer, finished her first book. She was so kind to send me an excerpt of it. As all of my close friends and family know, I write, but it takes a lot for me to read a book —or should I say finish one. I get disinterested really fast. This excerpt that she sent over to me was so interesting, that I couldn’t stop reading it. When it finished, I craved more. It stopped there? Then what? What happened? Wait! You can’t leave me hanging! When you can’t put a book down, you know it’s good. I’m so happy for her and thrilled that her passion for writing (among many other talents she has), came to fruition. After writing a book, even before it hits the publishers---it’s a huge accomplishment. You can visit her blog here . So, first of all, I’d like to say happy belated birthday, Tamar! I’ll be first in line waiting to get my book signed! Now get your butt over to my place and let's celebrate!!!