Learning how to ride a horse for the first time

Learning how to ride a Horse is one of the most exhilariting thing you can do. Jessie was being so brave and she rode so well!

St. Bernard de Clairvaux

Tres interessant!

Advice for Dads and Husbands

Advice for Dads and Husbands

I was asked this question recently: What would be your top ten pieces of advice for Dads/Fathers?

My Response was:

1. Live for Jesus every single day in every circumstance.
2. Love your wife passionately.
3. Tell your wife you love her in the presence of your children.
4. Tell your children how special their mother is.
5. Spend significant time with your children.
6. Tell your children that you love them every single day.
7. Don't show favorites with your children.
8. Don't try to live vicariously through your children.
9. Speak Gods truth into your children every single day.
10. Be a strong spiritual leader in your home and guide your children toward Jesus.
11. Involve your children in mission/ministry on a regular basis.
12. Help your children to care for and love ALL people.

I know I was only asked for 10 but I had a hard time stopping!

For the Sake of His Name,

Craig

I love this post! I hope you do too!

My journey into the Order of Preachers (Dominicans)

A few weeks ago, I became a novice into the Order of Preachers! This journey will take two years before I can be allowed to take my vows into the Order. As I reflect about this significant spiritual event, I am reminded on the charge to follow Jesus Christ in our daily life! How has your journey been? do you have an accountability partner who will love you no matter what? A person who will not be shy to challenge you when necessary? If we are not honest with ourselves, how can we expect to be honest before God? God knows already how messy are our lives, however, His intention is not to keep things that way! His intention is to build us so that we can live whole lives! richer lives in terms of God's spiritual grace! To enable us to do what He has called us to do. I believe every person has a mission to accomplish while here on earth! What is yours? A fellow Dominican preached a few weeks ago and her final phrase was: "...I know I am called to teach dance!" and truly this is what she does! she teaches ballet dance, with her incredible formation of character that she infuse on young people who attend her classes over the past few decades. Her words invited the pressing question what is your calling? your mission? Are you making a difference in the world we live in? I wish I can convince you to help by praying for our brothers and sisters in Egypt! If there are martyrs somewhere in this planet, Egypt's blood of the saints is crying out to God! "Forgive them Father, for they not know what they do"

Today's reading...

2 Samuel 15:19-37 (NRSV)

19Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why are you also coming with us? Go back, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile from your home. 20You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander about with us, while I go wherever I can? Go back, and take your kinsfolk with you; and may the LORD show steadfast love and faithfulness to you." 21 But Ittai answered the king, "As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be." 22David said to Ittai, "Go then, march on." So Ittai the Gittite marched on, with all his men and all the little ones who were with him. 23The whole country wept aloud as all the people passed by; the king crossed the Wadi Kidron, and all the people moved on toward the wilderness.

How amazing this is that this 'foreigner' Ittai the Gittite's determination to follow God of Israel did pay off! I wonder what this is teaching us! If God allowed this faithful man to function where it looked virtual impossible to do so, what then is difficult in God's eyes? Let us be encouraged, God says: He delights in giving you the Kingdom! 

On our way to ND!

On one of the stopover on our way to Jamestown, JP and Jessie. 

Early in the morning, we set out to visit the parish that adopted us spiritually. Grace Episcopal Church Jamestown has sponsored us at the time when I went to do my Teaching Parish Program (TPP) which happened in the summer of 2011. As we prepared ourselves to share our testimony of how God protected us throughout the war and Genocide in our homeland, our joy came from hearing responses that People are able to find peace and hope in the midst of their own struggles and hardships. It was a difficult exercise to share the experiences of a war that is the center of contests and conflicting arguments for which many find themselves at enmity with each other. Our point was to relate our own experience and how our faith was truly impacted by what happened to us. From one slightly high economic background end to the other spectrum, God is able to teach a person to adapt to new situations and possibly to enjoy the humanity that you find amongst those who are economically challenged. Our journey from one of the smallest countries in Africa to the United States is one that humble us to see the power of God at work. Even when we despaired, God's presence did not leave us. The test was just too great for many and ours wasn't unaffected either. I am so thankful that God deemed us worthy of His grace, so that we may seek him and find him. The journey has not been easy, but we are encouraged to persevere in the Lord.

Here are a few encouraging words that have come through so far...

"Have the mind that was in Jesus Christ!"

“Be bold. Be strong. For the Lord your God is with you. I am not afraid. I am not dismayed. Oh no. For I’m walking in faith and victory. Come on and walk in faith and victory, for the Lord your God is with you.”

At the beginning of next month, which is next week, we are anticipating by faith to enter a period of prayer and fasting. It is a time for seeking God with humility, a time of serious retrospection, an overhaul of one's own disposition before God. It is written "by faith we can please him". So Let us concentrate at this coming period of nine days with great expectation, because we are in no position to manipulate God, but rather to be in a position fit for the Lord's people. Allow yourself time to be alone with God for at least 15 minutes and allow yourself to shut down thought processes in your mind so that we let God's words speak to us. For families, it would be wonderful if you can do this together in the morning or in the evening, wherever possible. 

Here is our first meditative scripture to repeat to ourselves throughout the day:

Wednesday August 1st 2012: 

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to feel sorrow and distress. Then he said to them, "My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me." He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will." When he returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to Peter, "So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:36-41