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Love and marriage are the greatest adventures in life, and they point they way to our relationship with the Almighty.

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Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Clowns Of Glory Tell His Story


I came to Christianity from a Buddhist background, and combined with hearing loss through prolonged exposure to really loud noises, I misheard some things.

Like, Jesus healed leopards. Since He's the Lion of Judah, thus seemed pretty cool, that He had an affinity for big cats, but what about tigers and cheetahs and panthers? Were they left out?

And then...

I hope I'll be surviving
to the ending of this story 
when Christ will be arriving 
with His Clowns of Glory,
whom I will then gladly join,
big red nose and floppy shoes,
and will then sinners enjoin
to hear the bright Good News
that Calvary was not a test,
but is a hospital.
It's not for the righteous best,
but for those who fell
and can only stand again
by His Blood, and by His Pain.

Sylvia rose from the blood of a dead puppy in her womb, and the pain if adandonment in a Texas summer field. She gets it, and she can still laugh.





Thursday, March 27, 2025

No Choice But Forgiveness


 When you're tempted to the rage
at a world so badly flawed,
take a breath and turn the page
and place it in the hands of God
for He alone can bring the healing
of your anger and your cares,
and in His love will be revealing 
of the path up Dolorosa's stairs.
So journey on, and take each day
as it comes, and thus forgive
what pains your soul, and then you may
find a better way to live,
the way that Christ has shown to you,
for they know not what they do.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is VACANT.

Set up a sign, No Vacancy,
when anger comes to call,
and when it knocks ensure there be
no space for it at all.
Fill the rooms with happiness,
fill the lounge with love,
and every inch of spaciousness 
will call to God Above 
to bid Him join the happy crew,
all joyous in the dance,
for the Christ makes all things new 
and it takes just a glance
for the cheery heart to know
anger's not welcome, and now must go.

Ice cream helps.



Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Papist Funnies (Tell His Story)


 So, in the mid-fifties, Pope Pius XII decided that mass books needed an upgrade.

He hired Georges Braque to do the covers, but Braque was late on delivery, and thus...

The Cubist Missal Crisis.

Want more? No?

Three friends graduated from the seminary, and became Father Murphy, Father Owele, and Father Secola.

Years passed, and there were promotions. Monsignor Murphy, Monsignor Owele...but it was still Father Secola.

The hoops to the bishopric were passed, and wearing the red were Cardinal Murphy, Cardinal Owele...and...but it was still Father Secola.

Father Secola asked for an audience with the Holy Father, and it was granted.

"Eminence, my record is exemplary, I have served in every capacity ordained by the church...and I am still passed by."

The Vicar of Christ pursed his lips, sighed, and said, "I am so sorry, my son. It is an injustice, but please see that the Mother Church simply can't chance being led by Pope Secola."

Syl is always up for a bully laugh. And yes, I'm Catholic.





Thursday, March 20, 2025

Peanut vs Angels...Guess Who Won?


It's been a rough couple of weeks, and God sent His angels to take me home.

Didn't quite work out the way He planned, I think.

Jesus is my Saviour,
but Peanut is my dog;
I need not this belabour,
and I admit no fog
in knowing what my heart must see
when Peanut chased angels away
on what had then been deemed to be
my glory, and my dying day,
for Peanut rose up with a roar,
my canine Galahad.
Great Danes ain't easy to ignore:
"Hands off, dude, that's My dad!"
And so I guess I'm gonna stay,
for Peanut really wants to play.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is ENGAGEMENT.

It might not always go well
engaging angels in a fight,
but who can know and who can tell
when it's wrong or right?
Jacob got another name
with his demanded blessing,
but his hip was not the same
after he'd been messing
with this strong and glowing being
through the night 'till dawn.
I wonder how angel was feeling,
and if he could go on
grappling with this stubborn guy
underneath the morning sky?

Didn't know I was going there, but here I am.

Sylvia will give her place to her litte brother for this week. And she'll even share some ice cream.

Yes, Peanut, like Barb, prefers Pepsi.


Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Forgiving God (Tell His Story)

 

How can I forgive You, God,
for the awful things I feel and see?
Is Your plan so badly flawed,
or does the problem lie with me,
that I don't understand the cost
You pay in grieving tears each day
for Paradise that Adam lost,
and for a world that's lost its way?
Do You have to stand aside
to let us daily make a choice
that we may, or maybe not, abide
in the hearing of Your voice
like sheep upon a grassy hill,
questioning their Shepherd's will?

Sylvia just hopes God's will always includes ice cream.





Thursday, March 13, 2025

The Ugly


My New Year's Resolution was to be honest, and sometimes honest is ugly.

There is now nowhere to turn
where I might hide safe and escape
the fevers that do daily burn
the days that I have left, and shape 
me into something I detest,
a whining hypochondriac fool
who takes up worst to shame the best,
and ransoms hope for ridicule.
Lord, please set me on my feet
once more that I may yet remain 
something that is still complete,
and someone who can bear the pain
as I once did, and bear it still 
in honour of Your holy will.


When I say that I am beat,
when I whine "This isn't fair!"
that's the thing that sets my feet
on the journey to despair.
When I dwell on what I've lost,
all the cool stuff I can't do,
it's thinking that bears a cost
that will poison and run through 
the life that yet to me remains,
toss the blessings to the floor,
make naught of the small gains,
and quite firmly shut the door 
in God's disappointed face
when He comes to offer grace.

Syl's worried. I'm not the Dad she knew.







Tuesday, March 11, 2025

You've Gotta Stop Somewhere (Tell His Story)


 The common expression, you've got to start somewhere, has a corollary.

You've got to stop somewhere.

Every earthly journey 
has got to have an end,
until you reach Eternity 
and walk on with your Friend 
through forests of Forever
down streets of beaten gold
where you know you'll never
bow to heat or cold,
so let the things you cherish
here on God's good Earth 
fall away and perish,
for they'll receive rebirth
like the tears God saved for you
to anoint what's fresh and new.

Fresh-churned ice cream. Woof!