Living Proof

There's something to be said about Good Friday. It's not about fasting or sustaining from meat of any kind, but it's more about observing the day itself. If you choose to avoid meat on this day, then great. That's a personal choice in my opinion, just as giving something up for Lent is. Today is one of the most precious days of all -- the day Jesus died for us. He knew he would die today. I can't even fathom that. I think about all of my imperfections as a sinner: I drink too much, I curse too much and I can be cranky at times -- and although I am learning day by day what's best for me and what not to do in life, He still forgives me anyway. He has given me the gift of life just by what He did for all of us today. One on one, we talk about my challenges as a Christian and let me tell you -- it's amazing how much He has blessed me with overcoming certain problems in my life. By faith, I am saved. By faith, you are saved. And it's all because of tod...

There are so many qualities in Jesus that I admire that I cannot even fathom obtaining just a few of them. He was mocked, beaten and crucified, all for the love forgiveness. Even before his death, He was battered emotionally by the people He trusted the most. He was also betrayed by them too. The most amazing thing was His ability to still forgive them. It must take more of an evolved spirit; a person who truly knows God, like Jesus did, in order to forgive the people we would least expect to hurt us so deeply. Whether you believe Jesus is the Messiah or not, you have to respect His ability to give complete forgiveness to those people who wanted to hurt Him so badly. His faith was so great that He believed that His sacrifice on the cross was enough to save everyone and to give us salvation.  To me, that's pure love. There are two types of people in the world: those who have the ability to forgive with a more evolved spirit, and the others who cannot seek forgiveness in their...

As a kid growing up, the thought of Good Friday was a dreadful one. I was never taught the actual events that took place. I was raised an Italian Catholic, went through the motions of going through communion and confirmation and all that good stuff, however, there was no passion in any of the teachings that were given to me. It was too complicated for me. It wasn’t “real” and it didn’t have a great impact on my life. I knew that there was a God, and that I needed to be “good”, but as far as knowing the history of God and how God is present in our daily lives was just as real as Santa Clause or the Tooth Fairy to me. I was out of control in my late teens reaching into my early 20’s. I had no direction as far as "religion" went. I sat in a confessional booth filled with guilt every 2 years or so – but only after I did something really, really bad. The priest would forgive me, but more importantly, isn’t God supposed to forgive me? I didn’t get why we had to have a medium ther...

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6 Our own understanding is not enough. We need more. I need more. When your trust in God becomes genuine, more contingent, then your faith brings you to a whole new level of a different type of understanding. Questions that we raise, “Why did this happen God”, will soon be a matter of relying on God’s plan. God sees the big picture, while we see just a small scope of it. We pray, but sometimes we pray ‘hoping and wishing’, instead of ‘expecting’. If you pray without faith, and I talk about faith in the terms of not ‘believing’ that God will come through with it, then it may not be answered. Pray and expect. It’s as if you ask God for something and think, “Well maybe He’s not able to do that kind of thing…” You underestimate him basically. “You didn’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them, “I assure you, even if you had faith as small...