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PENTECOST THOUGHT 5/31/09

Pentecost:  Ground Zero
 
As a writer, I’ve lectured students about the importance of finding their “voices,” their unique and special ways of expressing themselves.  (Even these simplistic ramblings took about 25 years to evolve.) 
 
Pentecost is when the Apostles got their voices.  This is the exact moment when the old, unreliable Peter (first to race in, first to cut and run) became the rock that Jesus proclaimed.  He and the others — filled with the Holy Spirit — spoke boldly and with such persistence and resolve that, eventually, all but perhaps John were put to death for what they had to say.
 
My point:  Give voice to your faith.  Speak up.  This week, why not end every encounter with a “Good bye and God bless you” (even if nobody has sneezed)?  Cherish your faith.  Share it.  Oh, and God bless you. — jri
 
“Then Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice and addressed the
crowd.”
    –    Acts 2:14

THURSDAY THOUGHT 5/28/09

Egoistic or Righteous?
 
A friend of mine was once accused of being “so God damned righteous” by her philandering husband who objected to hearing about the principles and morals she held sacred … and how he was violating his promise to her and their family. 
 
What struck me was that many people think of righteousness as arrogant and egoistic.  I don’t know much, but I don’t think so.  Righteous means doing what is right in the eyes of God and according to God’s law.  No amount of fancy footwork and windy arguments can change that.  Sometimes — or so it seems to me — black and white are black and white, and right and wrong are right or wrong.
 
My point:  Though I am far from righteous, I work on it by trying to do what is right (and battle my chin-jutting arrogance every day).  It’s a good goal, one of which we should be pleased, not ashamed.  Celebrate the gift of this day … in righteousness.  — jri
 
“Light is shed upon the righteous
    and joy upon the upright in heart.”
        –    Psalm 97:11

WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 5/27/09

A Prank Offering
 
Forgive me, but this one will be longer than usual.
 
My brother and I have always traveled different roads in search of our demons to wrestle, our dragons to slay.  He uses his gift of medical healing in remote corners of the world, but he had always done so with anger at a god he hoped didn’t exist (because random suffering made more sense than a cruel god).  On the other hand, I tend to use my small gift with words to educate and inform and, these days, wearing my faith on my sleeve, to attempt to spread the knowledge of The God who is ever watchful over us.
 
This fall those roads will meet … in Swaziland, Africa, of all places.  The “fun” part is that I’ll be joining Lou as general grunt labor on a two-week trip through Medical Ministry International. 
 
But the best part is that … well, let me put it this way:  On the phone the other night, we were discussing plans for the trip.  I said I hoped my inexperience in remote travel and lack of medical skills would not prove futile.  He assured me there would be plenty for me to do, and then added, “There are many ways to serve the… ” and then lapsed into silence, as I processed what he had just about said.  Finally, “Gotcha,” I said, and he replied with a joyful, pure laugh.  “Oh, Little Brother, you have no idea.  Good night.  God bless.  I love you.”  And he hung up the phone.
 
Now here’s the prank part.  (You were probably wondering about that title, eh?)  Lou and I have always pranked each other and playfully competed with and tried to amuse each other…from sending dead animal body parts to each other through the mail, to borrowing each other’s credit cards to … well, never mind.  Most of all, we’ve always looked after each other, coming as close to unconditional love as I imagine exists on this earth. 
 
What I’m looking for here really isn’t a prank at all.  Lou has been in my daily prayers for years.  The realization that he is being graced with faith thrills me beyond words.  So, today, I’m asking for your prayers — to join me in a prayerful prank, if you will — that Lou’s road to faith be blessed and straight, especially after so many years of uncertainty and skepticism.  I also ask for your prayers that this trip we will be setting out on at the end of October may be fruitful.  Thank you and God bless. — jri
 
“He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me.
    and he prepares the way
    so that I may show him the salvation of God.”
        –    Psalm 50: 23
 
BTW:  All profits from the sale of my book, A Perfect Day, from now until the end of October, will go as a donation to Medical Ministry International.  
 
John Ingrisano
DailyConnections
204 Lakeview Drive
Algoma, WI 54201
(920) 559-3722
www.DailyConnections.net

THURSDAY THOUGHT 5/21/09

The Gift of Failure
 
I used to think that when I embraced God, my life would be a piece of cake, a walk in the park, an easy ride up the escalator to heaven.  Boy, did I have another think coming!
 
I’ve learned that God doesn’t take away our challenges and our suffering.  But what He does give us is the ability to get up with joy and the knowledge of forgiveness and love each and every time we fall on our faces or get knocked down by one of those two-by-fours of life.  It also seems to me that it is those setbacks — those stumbles and tumbles — that help us grow into the men and women we were meant to be … and that is growth we would not realize — ever — if life were one big, joyful and juicy bowl of pit-free cherries.     
 
My point:  Several, actually.  For one thing, forget about this perfection stuff.  It just ain’t gonna happen.  Just do the best you can and leave the rest up to God.  Second, give thanks for the gift of failure and for the struggles of each day.  My prayers for myself each day have been whittled down to one simple request:  “Lord, please give me faith and strength and guidance.  Everything else is Your business, Lord, not mine.” — jri
 
“The main thing we learn from a serious
attempt to practice the Christian virtues
is that we fail.”
    –    C.S. Lewis
            (Mere Christianity)

WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 5/20/09

Tomorrow?

What me worry?  You bet!  I don’t know about you (though I have a sneaky suspicion you’re kind of like me), but I waste way too much time pondering the future. 

Well, here’s what I know about tomorrow:  (A) it will come, like it or not; (B) eventually we will die, be gone, departed from this earthly orb; (C) it’s all in God’s hands … all of it.  Soooooooo, from birthday until deathday, we have a few decades to live, laugh, give thanks, cry, suffer, rejoice, and pray.  That’s it.  I suspect we should make the most of them in joyful fellowship and faith-filled living. 

My point:  Just for today, I will try to not give a single thought to tomorrow, but live in the radiance of God’s present love on this day.  I will give thanks and rejoice.  Tomorrow?  Ditto. — jri

“Can any of you by worrying add a
moment to your life-span?  Even if
the smallest things are beyond your
control, why are you anxious about
the rest?  Notice how the flowers
grow.  They do not toil or spin.  But
I tell you, not even Solomon in all his
splendor was dressed like one of
them.  If God so clothes the grass of
the field that grows today and is thrown
into the oven tomorrow, will he not
much more provide for you, O you of
little faith?  As for you, do not seek
what you are to eat and what you are
to drink, and do not worry anymore.
All the nations of the world seek these
things, and your Father knows that you
need them.  Instead, seek his kingdom,
and these other things will be given you
besides.”
        –    Jesus Christ
               (Luke 12:25-31)

MONDAY THOUGHT 5/18/09

Give it your little/some/most/all (circle one)
 
I got home last night from an incredibly, wondrously, spiritually uplifting Cursillo (Cur-C-O) weekend during which people said things like “God bless you” and “Jesus Christ,” even though nobody had sneezed or skinned a knuckle.  (Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all hugged and cried, too.  Got a problem with that?)
 
What I loved best (well, there must have been about a hundred best parts to the weekend, actually) was that people — many who before that would be inclined to say “my faith is private” or “I just don’t get into that spiritual hocus pocus; I’m not some holy roller, you know!”– well, they unfolded, discovered their faith, opened up like flowers blooming or caterpillars emerging from cocoons (the group’s name is Monarch, as in the butterfly).  If you’ve never seen an honest, open transformation like that before …  Wow!  No, double Wow!  You’re missing something incredible.
 
My point:  I know I’ve not expressed it well, probably left you thinking, “Who cares?” or “Words finally failed the fool”  But my point (yes, I do have one) is that — and this I know — the faith we carry around inside of us today is just a minute part of what it could be.  So, I encourage you to explore your faith, discover it, nurture it, let it grow and let it unfold and open like the wings of a butterfly.  Wow!  God bless. — jri
 
“Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote — Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph.’

 ”‘Nazareth!  Can anything good come from there?’ Nathanael asked.

 ”‘Come and see,” said Philip.”

             –    John 1:45-46

WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 5/13/09

FRIDAY THOUGHT 5/8/09

God Bless the Mothers
 
It’s the mothers, guys, whether we want to admit it or not.  As I’ve often written, it has been the women in my life (especially my mother and grandmother) — their prayers and belief in me — that are the reason I’m alive and not wearing prison stripes today.  This coming Tuesday evening, May 12, I will be speaking about “Women of Faith and Strength” at a Knights of Columbus gathering honoring mothers.  One of the things I will share is a bit of family folklore about my mother.
 
Sarah Helen Koch was born in 1918.  She was raised Lutheran.  She met my father in January of 1942, in the early days of World War II.  She was an army nurse, he a doctor.  As the story goes, they met in January, became engaged in February, were married in March … and he was shipped overseas in April to Australia and New Guinea,  not returning for 30 months. As a good Catholic Italian boy, Pop insisted that Mom convert to Catholicism when they wed.  She did while he was gone.  (That was perhaps the only time she actually listened to him, though she adored him until the day she died.)  Unfortunately, life and war being what they are, he returned home in 1945 and said he wanted a divorce.  My mother and God being what they are, her response is now part of our family history.  It is a response that saved our family and, though it was often an uneasy truce, kept them together until her death in 1981. 
 
My point:  Thank you, all you wondrous women of faith and strength.  I admire and miss it in my mother.  I beam with joy as I see it in my daughter, Angie, and in my daughter-in-law, Liz, two ferociously loyal mothers and wives.  Us guys would be nothing without you.  God bless you. — jri
 
“I cannot divorce you.  I am a
Catholic.”
    –    Sarah Helen Koch Ingrisano

WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 5/6/09

MONDAY THOUGHT 5/4/09