Hey-o.  I hope you are all having a wonderful Friday!  I have a few things I wanted to share and I thought the blog would be the perefect way to do so.

First, listen to Matt Maher’s interview on Christopher Closeup.  It’s great! Tony did a wonderful job on the interview and of course Matt was amazing as well.   And my blog about “Lay It Down”, God Laughs with Me gets a reference at the end of the interview.

Second, today is Halloween and we’ve had a lot of fun at the office with our costumes.  I’m a big fan of the retro look and definitely the 1950s era.  So, I decided to dress up as a 50s housewife.  Now, I know that women in the 50s didn’t exactly all wear high heels and pearls like June Cleaver, but I believe that Lucy and June became the icons of the 50s housewife.

We have a green screen at work, so we all went upstairs and took pictures.  Then we’ve added our own backgrounds and what not.  Lots of fun!

Have a safe Halloween!

Hey guys and gals.  While I was home this weekend, I spent some time with my mom at the grain elevator.  I took a lot of pictures of things that I believe represent the grain office and all of it’s cute, quaint glory.

I have a lot of blogs to write this week about my weekend at home and the newest book I am reading, You Can Change the World by Fr. James Keller, founder of The Christophers.  Ironically enough, the same points that I used in my last blog, he used in his book.  I think I will share those tonight when I get home.  Long day ahead!  Enjoy the pictures.

P.S. Thanks for reading, Mrs. Hall!  I’ll send you an email later tonight!

On any given morning, you can find the usuals sitting around this table playing another game of dominoes.

Felix has worked for the grain elevator for over 30 years. The hard hat he is wearing was a gift he received 30 years ago. Felix is a staple at the elevator.

This one of the many grain elevators. Isn't that sky beautiful?

For those of you who aren’t aware of my level of nerdiness, I must inform you that I was on the Debate team for four years in high school.  And I spent two weeks of two summers at Debate camp (which I gave a brief mention about in my previous post).

My coach, Mrs. Hall, was one of the best teachers I have ever had.  She taught at Debate camp and was my teacher at school.  She is incredible and fiery as all get out.  She was known for saying, “Hell hath no fury like Mrs. Hall” and my friends, that was not an understatement.  Mrs. Hall was my mentor.  She was the one who taught me how to approach an argument and present my side in a well, thought out manner.  She also taught me how to listen to other people’s point of view, respect their opinion, and then tactfully take what they said and prove my own point.

With my shout out to Mrs. Hall out of the way, I will get to the point of this blog: Politics.

Yes, the dreaded “P” word.  Makes me shiver a little. Since the announcement for the GOP Vice Presidential candidate, that’s all people want to talk about.  It seems that every other conversation I have goes to that topic at some point or another.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however, I get highly annoyed with people who can not present a valid or logical argument.

Please, when discussing politics, remember a lesson that Mrs. Hall taught me.   “Let’s stay away from dead babies on the highway” or a more polite way of putting it, steer clear of pathos during a logical debate.  People get too emotional when they start discussing politics, and rightfully so.  It’s an emotional topic that hits home in a lot of ways.  But when you are trying to convince me that my candidate is evil, please stay away from cheap shots and snide remarks.  And please, uncross your arms and stop whispering.

I get it.  I’m conservative, and apparently to some people that makes me a close minded, immigrant hating, gun carrying moron.  While I may sleep with a shotgun under my bed, I am in no way close minded (and I don’t hate immigrants).  I believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I am more than happy to hear your point of view if you present it in a thought out and unemotional manner.  Give me the facts.  Express your feelings.  But I will stop listening, and most likely make you feel like pond scum, the second you get snotty or tacky to due your emotional state.

Most of my friends know where I stand in my political and religious leanings.  But people that I hardly know, because of my care free and widely accepting personality, think that I have liberal leanings.  And I think it shocks people at times when they figure out just how conservative I actually am.  It’s not really that hard to figure out if you talk with me for longer than five minutes.

In case you haven’t figured it out, let me give you a brief run down.  I’m a Creed-professing, Catholic woman.  That means that I will vote with the Church and that also means that the most pertinent issue in my book is protecting and promoting the dignity and sanctity of human life at all stages. Sure, you probably think other issues are more pressing, like taxes, border control, the amount of money and time we spend on the war (we should be concerned about the lives lost and the liberties the men and women in the military protect everyday) and such, but I believe, and this is my well thought out opinion, that lawmakers and people in power in this country will do whatever they want in regards to those topics.  They will fluctuate and change constantly.  That’s the way it goes.

However, I think that the sanctity of human life is an issue that does not allow fluctuation.  The value of a human life should never be put into question.  It is unwavering.  As human beings, we have an inherent call to protect and care for each other.  As the Declaration of Independence (and partly John Locke) says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Sure liberty gives us freedom from control according to our choice, but life is an unalienable right given to each person and it is our duty to protect that right.

I could get into a large set of points that would further defend my point of view, but I will leave it at that.

Friends, the point of this post is this: Politics is a difficult topic to discuss in mixed company.  If you are not capable of handling a mature, level-headed discussion about said topic, please refrain yourself from engaging in such things.

Happy debating!

Yesterday, I was reading through my old blog on Xanga, (no, I’m not giving out my screenname, it is poorly written and I was terribly immature) it was the first time I had even thought about it in a year or so.  Something triggered my memory, so I googled my screenname and started reading.

I found an entry where I referenced my friend Colt, and there was a comment from him.  I hadn’t thought about him in a few years.  We went to Debate camp together one summer, and I was convinced at the age of 14, that he hung the moon.

He found me on facebook in 2005 and we kept in touch that way.  I always loved hearing from him.  He was very intelligent and had a way of making me laugh.  Over the course of the year, we both were dating other people and lost touch.  For certain reasons,  I closed my facebook and myspace account, and that really shut the door on our convos.

I smiled when I saw his name.  And wondered what he was up to.  Last I talked to him he was in Austin and had graduated from UT.  I clicked through Colt’s screenname, but he had never really blogged on his Xanga, he just had an account to make random comments.  He did have a blogger account that I would comment on, so I searched for that.  No luck.  So, I went to facebook and searched his name.  Nothing there, either.

So, I googled his name and found his website.  Colt was a computer nerd by nature, of course he would have his own website.  The picture on the front page didn’t really look like him though.  I went to his “About” section and saw him and his fohawk (which he had when he was 16…always the trendy guy).  It was my friend!

I went to read his blog, and was completely shocked to find out that he had died.  His obituary was his last entry.  I am still in such disbelief.  It’s not that him and I were super close, then lost touch, but it’s more of a guilty feeling that I didn’t know.  It’s really weird.

I spent most of last night reading his blog, and found out that the melanoma cancer he had fought off when he was younger, came back with a vengeance.  He died on April 5, 2008.  It wasn’t that long ago.  He was only 25!  My heart breaks for his family and for his girlfriend.

But reading through his blogs made me laugh, even until his last entries, he was completely himself. He had such a unique spirit.

How precious life is.  We think that everyone is going to be around forever and we can just facebook them on a whim and find them there.  (Oh, facebook.  How you have changed our lives.)

I was reading in Ecclesiastes on Tuesday night, and found the verses that have always given me comfort after a death.

“A good name is better than good ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, For that is the end of every man, and the living should take it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, because when the face is sad the heart grows wiser.” Ecclesiastes 7:1-3

I can’t get this out of my mind, so I thought writing about it would help get my feelings out.  And it did.

I guess the lesson learned here is that our lives here on Earth are, at best, temporary.  We should spend our time here serving God by serving and loving others.  I know that Colt always had a way of making me smile.  And that gift alone is worth more than anyone will ever know.

This morning I was at Mass with Juli, Brian and Sydney. We went to Fr. Flynn’s new Church to celebrate with him. It’s always a blessing to hear him speak and to see him do his priest thing.

The readings today were exceptionally powerful to me at this point in my journey, just as they were last weekend. What a beautiful gift God has given us in His scripture. His words fall on each of our ears in a way that He knows we need to hear and understand them. It’s perfection.

(In case you can’t recall the readings, check out these verses. Reading 1 Ez 33:7-9, Responsorial Psalm
Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9, Reading II Rom 13:8-10, Gospel Mt 18:15-20)

Each reading had something for me, but this one hit a chord in my heart.

“Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8.

After I received Communion, I began meditating on what it really meant to me to recieve the Body of Christ. (Please note that there is a lot of Catholic theoogy idea behind the statement I just made, but instead of trying to tackle one of the key aspects of my faith on my blog, I will advise you to ask a Catholic or me. Even better, starting reading about the Eucharist from sites like www.usccb.org and such.)

Being the extremely imaginative and literal person that I am, I thought of the literal aspect (which was a complete Scrubs moment): that we see a little Jesus in the host. That was a weird thought, so I kept thinking. And then God gave me the image of Him walking beside me. My Lord took me by the arm, linked mine through His, and He began to walk with me.

I pictured Him leading me back to my seat and kneeling beside me while I was in adoration of Him. And I’m not that special, so if Jesus is walking with me, that means that He has to be with everyone else as well. The image flooded my thoughts.

Walking arm in arm, I believe, is one of the sweetest embraces. I think it’s one that shows great respect and admiration for a person. It’s so intimate, but so friendly. You are connected. Linked together. Strengthened as one.

Just like with our Lord.

The idea of Jesus sitting beside each of us, was overwhelming. Then came the tug at my heart. If I could really see Christ walking beside every person and standing next to me like a friend, how would I be different? How would I act with Him by my side and with Him by others? How could that simple thought change me?

Growing up, my mother always would ask us after we did or said something that was tacky or rude, “If Msgr. Blum was here, would you say that?”. And I knew that I wouldn’t have said the same words or acted that way, because I wanted him to see me on my best behavior being a good Catholic.

That’s just like with Christ. I don’t want to hurt him. At all. That is last on my mind. But when I do not love another person the way God has called me to, then I am not doing what he asked of me.

“…”You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:9b-10

God is love. We are made in the image and likeness of God. So, if God is love, and we are made after Him, that means that love is the only acceptable attitude towards another person. But that, my friends, is no easy task!

How many people can we think of off the top of our head that we don’t particularly care for? Think about the people you meet or come across that seem so bitter, hateful and mean. And you wonder, “How am I suppose to be able to see Christ in that person? How am I suppose to love them as my neighbor? Geez, God!”.

For me, God has answered with this image of Him walking beside us. We all have marks and wounds from our previous battles scarring our bodies. We are sinners, we fall. So it’s sometimes hard to see the face of God smeared with sin. But, for me, I think seeing Christ walking next to a person, helping them along their journey, makes His presence with that person more real.

How could I hate another person or talk rudely to them if Christ is standing right next to them, joined at their arm? I wouldn’t be able to be mean, caddy, rude, or hateful. I could only offer my love, just like I would for Christ.

That very thought has lasting power. And again I ask you: What difference does that make in our lives? How can that change the way we act towards one another? It could rock us to our very core and shake up who we think we are. And it will. The love of God will change our life.

Now, I’m not saying that I have mastered loving every person as I love my neighbor, or even myself, but I will promise you that I am going to try my hardest to live this out in my life. I hope you will do the same.

I will leave you with this verse.

“This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” John 13:15

The “King of Voiceovers”, Don LaFontaine, died on Monday. He was really young, too. Only 68.

I’m sure most of you are a tad perplexed as to why I am posting this. It’s not my usual blogging style to post random things. But, if you are ever around Kevin and I, this isn’t too far stretched. We love the movie trailer guy. I am currently trying to talk Kevin into applying for his job, because he does a great impersonation. It cracks me up every time.

So, for Kevin, and in memory of the movie trailer guy, I will share my favorite clip from Frank TV. This is Don LaFontaine, Pablo Francisco and Frank Caliendo. It is awesome.

(I promise that you will have a real post this evening.)