An Unprogrammed Conversation

 

Article and photo by Bill Burke - LINK HERE

 An Unprogrammed Conversation

God:  Hey, nice to see you.  I see that you aligned yourself with the light.

Me:  Yeah, I usually sit at the end of the bench so I can rest my arm occasionally on the side but this morning that spot was taken.

God:  Cool, it’s good to move around.  It offers a different perspective.

Me:  Yeah, this is the first time I sat in this particular spot and the light really has me focused.  Sometimes my mind drifts, you know.

God:  Yeah, I know what you mean but if you focus and listen, you’ll be fine.

Me:  That’s what I try to tell myself.  When I look at the stage, I can feel your presence.  It’s like you’re in the middle speaking to us and we’re at your side following the spoken words.

God:  Yeah, that is a nice visual, I like it.  I notice that food is being collected for the food bank -- macaroni and cheese and tuna fish.  Yumm!!!  If you want to have an incredible heavenly meal – just add peas. When you were thinking about standing up and sharing your visual interpretation of the scene before you, I was excited.  But then you didn’t.

Me:  I felt I needed more time.

God:  It would have been alright but I must admit I really liked your proposal to recreate the scene at another time and write something.  That was a great move and if I was giving out points, you would have gotten a bunch but you know me, my playing field is level. By the way, how did you like my follow up?

Me:  I thought it was so you.

God:  I just couldn’t resist placing a pencil on your path home especially after you mentioned to a few people the previous week that you haven’t seen a pencil on the ground for a few months.  I was sure that you would hear me laughing.  Just a little reminder.  Sometimes we all need them.

Me:  Yeah, you’re right, I can’t argue with you.  Anyway, you are always right.

God:  Well, another hour has passed and it was really nice to have this conversation with you.  Remember, I am always here 24/7, 365 – oh, this year is 366.  Adjustments can be annoying sometimes. By the way, the sticker you saw yesterday in that car window was right on the money.  “God is having a good day”.  I sure was and I hope you always have good days. Later!!

God is right here right now

Sermon by Father Jonathan E Moore - LINK HERE

Corpus Christi 2026

God is right here, right now.

Many of you, I know, will have heard or read my reflections on the Eucharist before, and you might be forgiven for wondering what I have left to say. The answer is “lots!” - truth to tell, I’ve only really skimmed over the surface of what has rightly been called “God’s greatest gift”. As we celebrate this Feast of Corpus Christi, the challenge for the preacher is not trying to find something to say, but rather having to restrict his words to a mere ten minutes!

Question 46 of the time-honoured “Penny Catechism” asked: “Where is Jesus Christ?”.

The answer was:- “As God, Jesus Christ is everywhere. As God made man, He is in heaven, and in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar”

Last week, reflecting on the Holy Trinity, we thought about how we come to believe in God. This week’s theme  is not so much “There is a God” as “Here is God”.

The gift of the Holy Eucharist ensures that Jesus Christ is not reduced to a mere character of the past, but that we feel close to Him: the late Pope Francis once reminded us of this “He is our contemporary and we experience the joy of being children who are loved by God”. (Trinity Sunday Angelus 2018) 

In the Gospel, Jesus promises to remain with us forever and it is precisely through His presence and the strength of His Spirit that we can fulfil the mission that He entrusts to us: proclaiming and witnessing to His Gospel to all, to spread our communion with Him and the joy that derives from it.

The Catholic Faith does not call us simply to acknowledge the existence of a God like some bright star, unimaginably remote in the vastness of space. God wants us to know that He is "with us", that He loves us, is interested in our personal history and takes care of each of us, starting from the smallest and the most needy. “He is God up there in heaven, but also down here on earth". 

The poet Francis Thompson deserves to be better known. His poetry reflects his deep Catholic faith, the yardstick against which he measured his world, often finding it wanting. His poem “God’s Kingdom” contains the words:

“Does the fish soar to find the ocean, 

The eagle plunge to find the air—

That we ask of the stars in motion

If they have rumour of thee there?”

They are appropriate to today’s Feast: God in heaven, but also down here on earth. As the Catechism taught us, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Word made flesh and dwelling amongst us, Emmanuel (God with us) is, as God, present everywhere, and as God made man present in heaven, and  also here on earth in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. God became man, dying and rising for us, so that we might be adopted as sons and daughters of God the Father, “Sons in the Son”, confident to address our Father as “Daddy”, and to abandon ourselves to His care just as a little child abandons itself into the arms of a loving parent.

As we contemplate the great truth of Jesus Christ, present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament, we are invited into the mystery of a God who ceaselessly creates, redeems and sanctifies, always with love and out of love.

In the Old Testament, the Lord God says: “I will never forget you, my people” (cf Isaiah 49:15). God chooses to walk together with us. In the hymn by Estelle White, we sing: “Walk with me, O my God, through the darkest night and brightest day”. This is not a pious hope, but a statement of fact. God in heaven, all-seeing, all-powerful, strong to defend and rich in mercy, God right here on earth, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, compassionate, caring, and always there.

Traditionally, Corpus Christi is marked by a public procession, with the Blessed Sacrament carried through the streets of cities and villages. This still happens in some countries, thank God. Saint John Paul II restored the public procession in Rome, after a gap of a century. Pope Francis later moved the procession out of the city of Rome to the seaside town of Ostia (the place where Saint Monica died, by the way).

That Corpus Christi procession bears important witness to the fact that God is not just here on earth for a select and devout few - He loves all His people, without exception. Jesus came to earth, and remains sacramentally present on earth to form a people that are a blessing for all nations and for all people, without exception. urging all believers to go forth with the saving message of God’s love that relieves sins, heals the wounds of the soul and gives salvation.

That witness does not end with large public processions, however. Far from it! In a very real sense, any individual Christian man or woman can carry Jesus with them into the streets, the workplace, the supermarket, the hospital. Whenever we reflect Jesus in our thoughts, words and actions, we proclaim that truth that Jesus is alive and at work in our world today.

Today is a great opportunity to thank God, not only for being there for us , but also for being HERE for us too.

Why can't I hear God?

 

Article by Victor S E Moubarak - LINK HERE 

Why can't we hear God speaking clearly to us so we know what He wants?

It's a fair question. But imagine for a moment this happened to you. Imagine that one day whilst you're alone you hear clearly a voice announcing that God, your Creator, is addressing you personally. How would you react? Be honest, would you not be totally frightened out of your mind? Would you not wonder whether it is all real? Whether you just imagined it? Or perhaps that someone had hidden a loudspeaker somewhere and was playing a trick on you? Would you really believe it was God really speaking?  

God is real. He is a living Spirit inhabiting a spiritual world around us. We imagine Him to be human-like because this is what our mind can understand. 

Christ, the Son of God, appeared on earth as a vulnerable human baby so that we can relate to Him. So that we can listen and learn from Him, and witness His love and compassion for us.

God, the omnipotent loving Creator, descended to our level by visiting our world in human form; sharing with us our humanity.   

Had He appeared as a Spirit, as a bright light, or some hazy form like a "ghost"; our relationship with Him would have been totally different. It would have been based on our fear and bewilderment of Him; and not on His love and compassion for us.  

The Old Testament records that God did speak to the prophets and to people like Abraham, Moses and others like Noah and Jonah. We presume that they heard a voice out of nowhere and knew it was God. 

He spoke clearly to Moses many times when He told him to get the Jews out of Egypt, and throughout their 40 years travels in the desert when He gave him the Ten Commandments. 

So why does He not speak to us clearly today? 

Perhaps our answer is found in the Book of Deuteronomy. This book is a series of addresses given by Moses to the people of Israel in the land of Moab, before they entered the promised land of Canaan.

"The LORD spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. And when you heard the voice out of the darkness while the mountain was blazing with fire, all the heads of your tribes and your elders approached me, and you said, “Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. But now, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us, and we will die, if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer. For who of all flesh has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then you can tell us everything the LORD our God tells you; we will listen and obey.”

And the LORD heard the words you spoke to me, and He said to me, “I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever. Go and tell them: ‘Return to your tents.’ But you stand here with Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and statutes and ordinances you are to teach them to follow in the land that I am giving them to possess.” (Deuteronomy 5:23 onwards ...)

In summary; the Israelites heard the voice of God clearly and were frightened that they would die, so they asked Moses to go and listen to God and relay His messages to the people. They asked God to stop talking; and God agreed.

Maybe this is why God does not speak to humanity in a loud voice as reported in the Bible. 

However, since then and up to now, God continues to speak to people softly in their souls. It may not be a loud voice as in the times of Moses, but He does speak to us - you and me - if only we are willing to listen.

And before you ask ... when God is speaking to you He makes sure you know it is Him speaking to you.

Living with Mystery

 

Article by Father Jonathan E Moore - Link HERE

Living with Mystery

Being a Lincolnshire man, born and bred, I feel great affection for my native County's famous sons and daughters, not least the great physicist Sir Isaac Newton. His body is buried  in Westminster Abbey, graced with an epitaph written by the poet Alexander Pope:

"Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night: God said: "Let Newton be, and all was light!"

Present Day physicists are wise not to claim their ability to "make all things light". A prudent man of science acknowledge the truth that there is more to the universe than any human mind is capable of understanding or describing. They identify what Professor Stephen Hawking called "paradoxes, anomalies and inconsistencies" which defy the Laws of Physics as we know them. Hawking described the things which don't  behave the way scientists think as "mistakes" and "imperfections".

Believers, of course, would give another name to that which is beyond all scientific investigation and definition - and that is GOD.

To describe things we can't understand as "mistakes and inconsistencies" can never be good enough for someone with faith. Three hundred years ago, people believed that Isaac Newton had answered all the questions about the way the universe worked. Later scientists, notably Einstein, showed that even the great Newton had made his mistakes. What of the scientists today, can they really hope to answer all the questions? Could it not be that, where they find "anomalies and inconsistencies", the mistake is in their own theories and calculations? Might it not be that there is an intelligence infinitely greater than theirs behind creation? When you come to think about it, is it any easier to believe that everything started in a huge, chaotic explosion of matter than it is to believe in an intelligent Creator of heaven and earth?

Think about a great work of art such as the Mona Lisa or the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Would it make sense to suggest that either had come about as the result of an explosion in a paint factory? Surely it would make more sense to recognise and appreciate the skill of the artist who used paint with such skill and intelligence.

Then again, who could look at a magnificent piece of engineering like a space rocket or a massive suspension bridge, and suggest that it was merely the result of a freak whirlwind hitting a scrap yard?

Truth to tell, nobody believes in nothing . Some people who would describe themselves as "non-believers" have faith in science or political philosophy. They are the sensible ones, others believe in "Ley Lines", crystals, fairies, dragons and lucky charms. As G. K. Chesterton shrewdly observed: "When people stop believing in God, they don't believe nothing, they believe ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING!"

This much is sure, science, politics and philosophy have changed many times in the last two thousand years, and they go on changing. The Good News alone is unchanged and unchanging. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and for ever. (Hebrews 13:8)

We have seen in recent weeks that Our Lord's teaching was, in its own time, often seen to be "inconsistent" with what others wanted to believe. He said much that was "paradoxical". As I've remarked before, in the end, He could only be judged to be mad, bad or God, no other conclusion was, or is, possible. For Jewish people in those days, what they termed the "Son of Man" (Bar Nasha) was a superhuman, all-conquering hero whose "glorification" would be conclusive victory over the armies of all "The Nations", and rule over all the world as an absolute monarch. Jesus, however, while describing Himself as "Son of Man" spoke of a very different "glorification" which involved rejection, condemnation, crucifixion, death and failure. He would be "lifted up", but His throne would be a rough wooden cross on top of a rubbish tip, and His crown would be made of thorns. Like a grain of wheat He must die and be buried in the ground in order to rise again.

It took a lot of faith for even his closest friends to accept this. Saint Peter himself struggled with the very idea. At the Transfiguration, Peter, James and John had glimpsed His divinity for one blinding and glorious instant, but now back down the mountain, they had to cope with a very different reality. There had to be death before resurrection, the cross before kingship. Each of them faced the same inevitable question: who is wrong, Jesus or me? One or the other had to be mistaken. This is the ultimate "acid test" of faith, and none of us escapes it. Like poor old Job, in the end we must either reject God, or put our finger to our lips and stand silent in the presence of mystery.

A theology professor, under whom I studied many moons ago, used to say that an appropriate "signature tune" for God would be the song "I was born under a Wandering Star" because He is like the horizon - you reach that distant point only to find another horizon. God is like an ever-flowing spring: however many times we satisfy our thirst, we can never drink it all. The Prophet Isaiah (Chapter 58:11) speaks of God giving us "A spring of water whose waters never run dry." People have sometimes asked me "Won't eternity be boring?"- I don't believe it will, you know. If there are always new horizons presented by God's love which is "new every morning", then we will be caught up in the greatest of adventures, as Cardinal Newman wrote "hearing no longer the busy beat of time".

Our Lenten readings have been very much about living with questions, embracing mystery, going by faith and not by sight. To be silent before God, to accept that there are mysteries far beyond our understanding, to live with the questions we can't answer - these are the non-negotiable "Terms and Conditions" of Christian Faith.

And what of the non-believers? In Eucharistic Prayer IV, we pray for all those who seek God "in sincerity of heart". In seeking the Truth, unknowingly people seek Him, for God is Truth. In the General Intercessions on Good Friday afternoon the Church prays that those who do not acknowledge God may sincerely follow what is right, thus finding the way to God Himself. I think we should be making that prayer all the year long, don’t you?

Fr. Jonathan Moore

The End of Lent

Another Lent

Is almost spent.

Would someone tell me

Where it went?

How forty days

So swift are spent?

Life, Falcon-fast

Is flashing by,

And Lent is spent,

And man must die...

Remember, though,

What follows Lent -

How Jesus Christ

Could not be pent

By stone, a seal

And armoured main,

But, Easter-early,

Rose again.

O Risen Saviour,

Raise us too,

And bid us ever,

Live with You.

 JEM

"I am"

 

Sermon by Father Jonathan E Moore - Link HERE

5th Sunday of Lent 2026

Dear friends, here's my little reflection for Sunday, the fifth Sunday of Lent, the resurrection and the life. Jesus spent a lot of His time with Martha, Mary and Lazarus in Bethany. You might say it was His second home.

When Jesus arrived there four days after the death of His friend Lazarus, it was hard for those two sisters to find words to speak. Initially, Mary just stayed in the house. Only Martha came to Him, at first voicing that anger which is so often an expression of grief.

"If you had been here, my brother would not have died". Once her grief-fuelled anger has come out, Martha remembers that she knows more about Jesus than that. "I know", she says, "that even now, whatever you ask of God, He will grant you".

And Jesus replies, "I am the resurrection. Do you believe this?" Martha's faith floods back. "You are the Christ, the Son of God".

And then Jesus calls Lazarus out of his grave, back to life and returns him to his sisters. You will not be surprised if I look back now to the Old Testament. I mostly do, I know.

If you look at the book of Exodus, the third chapter, we learn that when Moses asked the Lord God, "if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is His name? What shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I am who I am". Those words, "I am", are repeated by Jesus in John's Gospel again and again. 

"I am the bread of life. I am the living bread from heaven. I am the light of the world. I am the gate of the sheepfold. I am the good shepherd. I am one with the Father. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the true vine". 

It's not long now till Good Friday.

When the Passion is being read on Good Friday, listen out for Jesus saying, "I am", three times in succession during His arrest. The significance of that was not lost on the arresting officers. John tells us that they drew back and fell to the ground.

Every time Jesus describes Himself as, "I am", He is clearly claiming that He is God. His opponents understood this very well. They hated Him for it.

When Jesus told them before Abraham ever was, "I am", they thought He was blaspheming. No man could speak of Himself as God. He was a madman, a bad man, or God incarnate.

There are still many people who struggle with the identity of Jesus and would dismiss Him as being delusional or an imposter. That's where we're so blessed, dear friends, that we have been given the gift of faith. And we should never forget that faith is a gift of God.

We don't deserve it. We haven't worked to attain it, nor have we in any way earned it. And through that precious gift, we are able to hear Jesus use that divine expression, "I am".

And like Saint Peter declared, "you are the Christ, the son of the living God", or like Saint Thomas said, "my Lord and my God". We Christians, God's people of the new covenant, are able to see in Jesus Christ the face of God. Our God is not remote, unapproachable, dangerous, unknowable, and one whose name must not even be breathed.

Jesus has taught us that God does have names which He loves us to use. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And the New Testament tells us this clearly.

We find in the epistles of the Romans, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And in the Acts of the Apostles, it will come to be that everyone will call on the name of the Lord. We even find this in the Old Testament, among the prophecies of Joel.

That's in the second chapter of Joel, by the way. Jesus speaks to us of a God who is not all mystery. Those with faith can begin to have an understanding of the nature of God, even though our knowledge in this life must remain imperfect.

When Jesus speaks as God, He always accompanies it with an image which we can understand. The sower in his field, the shepherd with his flock, the path to Heaven, the vine trunk feeding its branches, He is light, truth, resurrection, and life. A problem which our Lenten penances can cause to the unwary soul is that it all becomes a matter of thinking about oneself.

What am I doing without? What extra am I trying to do? What sins I have committed? And although self-knowledge is important, knowledge of Jesus is even more so. It's not enough just to know about Jesus. We need to know Jesus like Saint Thomas.

We have to come to know Him as "my Lord, my God, my Jesus". So for the rest of this Lent, please try to forget about yourself a little more and concentrate on Jesus alone. All your worries, all your concerns, all your fears will be resolved by Him alone.

All of your needs, He alone can supply. Each time you begin to pray, pause, remember that you are in His presence, the presence of God. Try to recall your wandering mind as far as you can.

Try to be present to Him too. Listen to Him ask you, "do you believe?" And let Martha's faithful response be yours too.

Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God. Amen. 

God bless you all and do please, please remember me in your prayers.

God's Glory

 

Introducing a wonderful song sang by Martha and Danny Orlando - Link HERE

God's Glory 

I've gone where the hopeless go, the dead end of a broken road
And I've learned there's a place so low you can't see your way out
Been stuck in a ditch so deep, thought it might be the end of me
But I'm still here and there could only be one way how

My life is a God story
Gotta tell the world what He's done for me
Miracle on miracles that only He could do
I'm proof that we're all only one prayer away from a testimony
There's only One getting all the glory
My whole life is a God story (God story)

From beginning to the end, from who I was to who I am
I can see His fingerprints on every single page
Now the story I love to tell
Is the story of the One who brought me back from hell
From "all wrong" to "it is well", and all I can say

Is my life is a God story
Gotta tell the world what He's done for me
Miracles on miracles that only He could do
I'm proof that we're all only one prayer away from a testimony
There's only One getting all the glory
My whole life is a God story, God story

From death to life, from blind to sight
This is my God story
From lost to found, from then to now
I'll tell you how, God story
Who brought me through from old to new
It's a true God story
Ain't hard to see the change in me
Could only be a God story

My life is a God story
Gotta tell the world what He's done for me
Miracles on miracles that only He could do
I'm proof that we're all only one prayer away from a testimony
There's only One getting all the glory
My whole life is a God story

Black-eyed Peas

  

Article by Barbara Mims - Link HERE

Black-eyed Peas

Cold weather calls for warm comfort foods. While I was growing up, the New Year’s habit in my family was to include the Southern tradition of black-eyed peas. Presumably this legume would ensure good luck in the coming months. Although we did not claim to be superstitious, it was a fun excuse to have black-eyed peas, “just in case.”

While I enjoy black-eyed peas, a few years ago I decided to give up on them. Superstition or not, the previous year had ended terribly for me, so discarding them seemed a good option, again, “just in case.”

This year we enjoyed yellow cornbread baked in a cast iron pan, accompanied with sliced ham and green beans. That’s about as traditional of a Southern New Year’s menu I was willing to serve.

In the Old Testament, Job 23:10 says, “The Lord knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.”

In the New Testament, Romans 8:28 gives this promise to those who are committed to the Lord through Jesus Christ: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

I am learning to rely on the Lord with both my good and bad experiences because He is in charge, and He knows how best to refine me for His purposes. With that in mind, regarding the black-eyed peas, I’ll probably add them to my menu next January 1^st!

Does God look human?

 

Article by Victor S E Moubarak - Link HERE 

The Old Testament records that Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Job encountered or "saw" God. We don't know whether they "saw" Him physically or as a vision. When Moses encountered the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-22) he heard God speak but did not actually see Him.

God is a Spirit.

As humans, we cannot understand or fathom what a spirit is. Is it a bright light? A transparent shape? A soft breeze or a presence?

How would you describe a spirit?

When the Disciples asked Jesus to "show them" God, He said:

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?

The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing His work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14:1-14

*******

After comforting the Disciples Jesus asks them to trust (believe) in God and to trust in Him and re-iterates that to see Jesus is to see the Father. He, (Jesus) is in the Father and the Father is in Him.

And that's presumably how, over the generations, we have grown to imagine God in human form. The Disciples saw Jesus as a human, (Whom He was, as well as being God), so they assumed that God the Father is also a human form. As no doubt have we, in our minds, envisaged God in human form.

The Bible says that God created us in His image. This means that we possess the same qualities of love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness as God has. It does not mean He created us in His physical image. 

God offered Himself on the Cross for us by sending us His Son Jesus. The Creator became part of His Creation.

Our Christian faith does not teach that we should climb up to God for our redemption. God has come down to us, and offered Himself as sacrifice on the Cross. 

The Father is God. And Jesus is God. And the Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Trinity - three in one. 

Thy Will Be Done

 

Article by Martha Jane Orlando - Link HERE 

In this manner, therefore, pray:  Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.  Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. ~Matthew 6:9-10

There are only two kinds of people in the end:  those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done."  All that are in Hell, choose it.  Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.  No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.  Those who seek find.  To those who knock it is opened. ~C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce.

The Lord's Prayer.  We recite it every Sunday in church.  It's probably one of the first prayers we memorize as children.  The words, said repeatedly, are comforting and familiar to each of us.

But the problem arises when these words become nothing more than rote when saying them out loud.  We speak corporately out of habit, not taking time to reflect upon what we are actually espousing with each uttered phrase.  It is, indeed, a slippery slope for Christians, young and old.

When we pray that God's will be done, do we mean it?  Do we really believe it, or do we secretly think His will should be done only if it aligns with our hopes, our dreams, our expectations?  If that's the case, we are confining ourselves to our own lonely, isolated perspective where we deem our needs and desires to be more important than what God wills for our lives and for the lives of those we love.

Tragically, this whole misconception leaves God and His sovereignty out of the equation altogether.  That idea alone should shake us to our very core.  Because the evil one craves nothing more than to work to separate us from the God we profess to love and worship.  The devil sees that narcissistic chink in our armor as an opportunity to worm his way into our hearts and minds.

St. Paul proclaims in Romans 8:39 that nothing can separate us from God's love.  I agree.  But God created us with free will; we can choose His way or the highway at any given juncture.  As C. S. Lewis states above, all that are in Hell choose it.

As we prepare here in the States to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, I challenge all of you to take time to rediscover the Lord's Prayer.  Examine each turn of phrase.  Ask yourself if you wish for God's kingdom to reign on earth as it does in heaven, or do you prefer your own little kingdom of one to prevail?

I have no doubt you will come to the right conclusion.

Amen!