Tita Moments

19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. James 1:19-20


Those of us reading this blog have all recently endured 4 sequential deaths since May and yesterday we found out that Bob’s father has gone to join Rosalie in Heaven only after 30 plus days of her passing. This makes 5 deaths in 4 months within our extended family. Tough summer to say the least!

It would be easy to be angry at G-d and question his existence because of all the tough stuff we have had to endure. James warns of that in the passage above. We need to listen to the voice of G-d calling us to be his servants! Time is too short to be angry.

As each of us ponder the meaning of each death, I can’t get over the number of times I want to call Tita and tell her how I feel about all of this. Unfortunately she was one of the casualties of this dreadful summer. This is a hard time!

I want to call her and tell her about Philip’s new dorm and school, Sarah’s goal of hitting 4.0 this semester and Lizzy’s future driving ( even in her car). As hard as this is, I have found that we have circled the wagons and depend on each other more than we ever have before. Whether it is by phone or email we are communicating better as a family than we ever have before!

What a huge breakthrough this is for us. It sucks that so many people have had to go be with the Lord for us to do this but G-d works in very mysterious ways to say the least. His Will is what we need to seek regardless of the impact to us.

My heart goes out to Bob as he faces another parent being gone but I hope he knows how much we care about him and that we are here for him.

I know each of you have your “Tita Moments” as I do and in some instances breakdown while openly sobbing in grief and I hope you do because that is the cleanest part of recovery. If we didn’t mourn and openly cry then I would question what we are about!

Wednesday brings another, and I hope the last, death for us for a long time. Regardless, we must acknowledge that G-d is in control and loves us beyond all measure!

Come Father and envelope us in your Grace and hold us close to Your bosom as we mourn our loved ones who have gone ahead of us to your Heavenly Kingdom. Amen


Peace be to all.

Time is Short

35"Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." Luke 12:35-40


The passage above directs us to expect our LORD at any time! He directs us to prepare for his return. What does being watchful entail? What, as believers, should we do as we wait? What does the job description of watchman include?

These are normal questions that we ask ourselves everyday. Knowing expectations of any task makes it easier to excel if we are willing to do the work to “get’ur done.” Being American workers we expect evaluations of our job performance at least once a year and we hope for a raise based on our contribution to the success of the organization.

But how do we do this in the Spiritual realm? How do we “stand-ready” for the coming of the LORD? I think the passage above is very clear on what we are supposed to do and I believe it stares modern “don’t worry, be happy” theology in the face.

There is a distinct pabulum being preached that we do not need to prepare either spiritually or physically for the coming trouble ahead. Our primary media outlets minimize bad spots and endlessly spew the need for us to spend our earnings on things that our fellow citizens are OCDing about. We are bombarded by messages that intimate that “if you don’t have the latest, you are the latest!”

So what does waiting really cause us to do? I think the answer is being prepared for most eventualities. Whether we are able to withstand a hurricane, electrical outage or a full blown terrorist act that changes the way we look at freedom, economics and our own futures; regardless of the situation we need to be prepared to care for our immediate and extended families.

Most readers of this simple blog know that I have embraced the preparedness movement with vigor. The stigma of this is the fact that most outsiders think that I believe in the soon end of world as depicted as Armageddon in the Bible. WRONG. I believe that we are approaching the end of the world as we now know it in America. This is not a loss of hope or belief in an omnipotent G-D who loves us, but simply a cause and effect response to our own sinfulness. I, as you, am one of the perpetrators of this sin.

Recognizing that G-D forgives us for all of our past, present and future sins through the Blood of Jesus Christ, we must move ahead as children of a loving G-d to prepare.

Time is short! We must accomplish the following in short order collectively to be steadfast watchmen:
1. Reaffirm our Faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives and families.
2. Submit to baptism and affirm our faith in Him if we haven’t done so already.
3. Help each other to grow in the Lord.
4 .Develop a plan to utilize our individual skills in a “Worst Case” scenario that changes the way we view our country .
5. Develop a family retreat to flee to in the event of catastrophe.
6..Build charity into our preparations to help our brothers and sisters that haven’t been able to prepare.

This blog entry has been a long time coming and there is much to do in a quick period of time.

We must work together to accomplish heavy goals because time is very short!

Peace to All.