Destiny

Okay, Lorne Green was great on Bonanza but I have to say that as a singer he probably not make it on "The Voice."  But aside from entertainment value I chose this song to introduce the topic of destiny.  Please note that I do not agree with the principles put forth in this song.  For me the principle it espouses sounds too much like John Calvin to me.  But aside from that I do have to agree that we have a destiny but it is not set in stone as Lorne would have us believe. 

In the distant past God decided he would like Michael The Lesser to be born.  He loved the very idea of Michael and when the time was right He moved His hand and I was conceived.  After a stay in the womb, in my case only seven months, I was born kicking and crying into the world. I was a tiny thing and the fourth attempt my mother had at having a child, the other three ended in two miscarriages and one still birth. I survived two months in an incubator at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago and was brought home on Christmas Eve in nine-teen hundred and fifty two.  

I have seen sixty-two summers in my life and I am not sure if I will see another because we are never sure we are going to even take another breath, it is not guaranteed.  As I have gone through life I have come to forks in the road and have made conscious decisions as to which road to take. Sometimes my choice was good, in my eyes anyway, other times things didn't turn out so good.  But no matter which road I took, no matter the results of my decisions, I was propelled towards my ultimate destiny. 

As a human being I have an ultimate destiny but unlike Mr. Calvin says it is not written in stone.  This is because I have been given free will to choose my destiny.  I can live a life worthy of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and my ultimate destiny will be heaven.  I can live a life of unrepentant dissolution, caring only for myself and my ultimate destiny will be hell. The point I am trying to make here is that our destiny, unlike the destiny portrayed in the song, is in our hands. We make the choices in life in accordance with the free will that God gave us.  He does not want puppets to be with Him in heaven, He wants people who have decided that they want His friendship.  

So, what do you think of destiny?  Is it something that is written in granite and can never be changed?  Or is it something that we can design as a sculptor changes a square piece of marble and through work and dedication changes it into a beautiful statue? 

CONVERT A CATHOLIC challenge is still open. I am inviting my Protestant brothers and sisters to prove to me that I should abandon the Catholic Church and join their denomination.  33,000 different versions of the truth against the Catholic Church...what are you waiting for?  The challenge has been made.  Click on the link below to send me an email.

Michael, my denomination has got it all together - you just gotta join it and here is why 

 (Click Here)

Aging

Charlie Brown Gives Up To The Inevitable 

Yesterday my biological gonged 60 times to signify that it has marked the passing of another year. Birthdays are a happy time for me. It is also a time for me to reflect as to where I have been, where I am now and where I am going.  I was very lucky, I had parents that loved me and cared about me and my future. When I was young I did not appreciate this fact as much as I do now as I cross the imaginary line from the fifties to the sixties.  With the medical problems I have managed to afflict myself with I am an unlikely candidate to see seventy and I accept that fact without sadness. In my time I have been able to live some of my dreams and not too many people can say that today.

I've tended to learn the hard way every time as the late grate Jim Croce sings;

Yeah, I've had my share of broken dreams
And more than a couple of falls
And in chasing' what I thought were moonbeams
I have run into a couple of walls
But in looking back at the places I've been
The changes that I've left behind
I just look at myself to find
I've learned the hard way every time

'Cause I've had my share of good intentions
And I've made my share of mistakes
And I've learned at times it's best to bend
'Cause if you don't well those are the breaks
Should have listened to all the things I was told
But I was young and too proud at the time
Now I look at myself to find
I learn the hard way ev'ry time

But in looking back at the lessons I've learned
And the mountains I wanted to climb
I just look at myself to find
I've learned the hard way ev'ry time

'Cause I've had my share of broken dreams
And more than a couple of falls
And in chasin' what I thought were moonbeams
I have run into a couple of walls
But in looking back at the faces I've been
I would sure be the first one to say
When I look at myself today
Wouldn't a done it any other way

There is no non-religious song that I have ever heard that touches me more than this song. I find that most of the time I have picked the hard way to learn the lessons of life but if I had to do it all over again, I don't think that I would do it any other way.  All of the experiences in my life from the nun that busied herself writing letters to advise my parents that I never delivered, to the time a drunken boss call and fired me over the phone and other good and bad things, make me who I am.  Change any one of those things and I would not be the same person I am today.  But most importantly I would not have had the chance to live with and love my wife Mary.  I could not conceive what life would have been without her, lonely bachelorhood would have been my lot. 

So, I thank the Lord for EVERYTHING and EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE I have faced in my life.  I thank him for all of the things He has given to me, and I praise Him for the things that he has chosen to withhold from me.  I have always felt His presence in my life, even when I was far away from Him.  

In the spirit of Francis Assisi; 

                           Praise you Lord for Brother Aging for with it comes wisdom and 

                           Thoughts of you and your love for me,