Birthday & An Amazing Wife

First I want to apologize for not blogging in such a longtime. I recently celebrated by 26th birthday on this earth and my first birthday as a married person. To be honest I was not expecting to much this year in regards to my birthday, and yet my wife pulled off an amazing party. She planned a surprise birthday party with me and my friends here in Ennis, TX. It was great and I know for sure it was the first ever surprise party that I have been really surprised when I walked in the door. It was great! We ate, laughed, and shared stories together.

The cool thing is that when I sat down and thought of the party, I wasn't surprised that my wife did such an amazing job, because she is so amazing. I just need to brag about her for a few minutes. She is the best! Beside the normal everyday stuff that she takes care of like laundry, cleaning, food, etc...she has a heart of kindness and generousness that I admire so much.

Nikki and I met in Gaming Austria on a semester abroad trip that we both took our sophomore year of college. Although it stupidly took me almost two years from the time we became friends to actually mustard up the courage to ask her out she remained a great friend.

I  could tell you stories upon stories about how kind, generous, and loving my wife is but most of you already know this. I sometimes wonder what it will be like to be married for 10, 15, 25, or 50 years.....and every time I think that I smile because it reminds me that I can't wait to wake up each day and go to bed each night being blessed enough to see my wife's face! Lord thank you for Nikki and the Blessing that she is to me and so many others!

I love Lucy & Marriage

My parents watched the old shows while us kids were growing up like "I Love Lucy" & "The Walton's". Shows that are classics and have great values and good family messages. This is unlike most of the shows that I see on TV today. The shows are now filled with divorce, scandal, & sex. You may be wondering where I am going with all of this. Well, some of you may know that I got married just 1 month and 7 days ago. And to be honest I was expecting a tough transition. Having someone around all the time, sharing a bed, & bathroom! I was expecting the lies the world feeds us to start entering into my marriage. I couldn't have been more wrong. Marriage is awesome, and it is awesome because my wife and I prepared for it, and took the tougher road to get to it. It would have been easy to test it out and live together, it would have been easy to be mediocre in the time leading up before marriage. But easy does not translate to holiness.

I think we can learn a lot from the old time shows. We can see marriages that work and families that stay together because they were centered on love. I know that you may be thinking that I am a fool! Or once I get a few years of marriage under my belt I will be changing my mind......wrong! Yes there will be struggles, yes there will good days and bad days, but the love of Christ is the center of our lives and that will never change. I pray that one day I have a family like the Walton's that is centered on God & family. Actually I pray that we all have that in our lives. And hopefully one day we will have shows worth watching again on television.


The views expressed personal opinion and do not in anyway reflect the views of my employer

A Mothers Love

I recently had the privilege of speaking for the organization Youth for Christ. They are an international Catholic charismatic organization.  The topic I was given to speak on was Mary the Mother of God and how having a relationship with her can help lead us closer to Christ. I loved giving the talk on Mary and the teens that attended the conference were amazing.

I know that this talk meant so much to me because my own mother means so much to me. She showed me God's love growing up by loving me unconditionally. I know that not everyone had a great mother growing up, and I know that some people do not even know who their mother is, but that is the great thing about Mary the Mother of God she is everyones mom. And she is not going to keep us to herself, she is going to bring us to her Son Jesus. She wants the best for us!

I watched the most recent Harry Potter movie with my wife the other night and one scene that struck me was when they focused on the love of Harry's mom, and that her love is what saved him. I think if we apply this to a Catholic setting the same can be true. She can bring us to the foot of the cross a place that she was at, and she can show us her son. Her love can show his love and his loving act on the cross is what saved us.

Maybe we can all show our moms a little more love this week.Maybe you haven't talked to your mom in a long time. Call her! It is never to late to develop a relationship with your mom. If you don't know your mom, maybe offer up a prayer for someone who has been a motherly figure to you. Mary always leads us to Jesus, we just have to be ok with letting her take us there.

Totus Tuus Maria

Steubenville South

I witnessed amazing things this past weekend on our Steubenville South trip. It is amazing to see how just last year we were taking 25 people to the Conference. This year we doubled that and brought 50 people to encounter the living God. I am so proud of my teens. They have come so far in their journey with the Lord.

For a youth minister the day before a trip is like Christmas for a little child. It is so exciting because you are waiting to see what God is going to do in these teens lives and your life. Friday was packed of excitement for the teens who attended last year and also nervousness for the teens who were attending the conference for the first time. I loved walking up and down the bus and asking teens how they were feeling and what they were thinking.

Friday night was great opening. Josh Blakesley the musician pumped the teens up and Jim Beckman the host brought them deep into prayer. We had an amazing time in Adoration where there was so much peace and stillness. The Lord was preparing the teens for great things to come.

Saturday is such a long day but yet so rewarding. The day just keeps building up with great anticipation for tonight and the Eucharistic procession. The Mass that Fr. Stan Fortuna said was great. He engaged the teens and conveyed the message of Jesus love to all the teens in the arena. The rest of the afternoon had workshops, entertainment, and dinner.

Then came the main event. It was so exciting for me as a youth minister to see these teens from St. John Nepomucene who have gone through so much getting so excited for Adoration. It is awesome when you think about it because the Monstrance was processed throughout the crowd, and all I could think about was all the Scriptures that talk about Jesus going into the crowd, and healing, changing and transforming lives. We were the crowd that he came into. We were the people he touched and healed. The night was great. I saw so many teens bring their burdens to God and lay them down to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Sunday- What a phenomenal finish to the weekend. We were able to receive into our bodies the  same Jesus who came into the crowds last night. The same Jesus a lot of us including me take for granted every week. We received his body, blood, soul and divinity. What made it even more special was that it was the feast of Corpus Christi.

On the bus ride home I could not stop thinking back to the time when I first arrived in Ennis. Most of the teens were rough and did not want to know who Christ was. But slowly through prayer, the sacraments, core team, and priest guidance they are finally coming around to a point where they can receive their faith and live it out. Our God is a great and faithful God. It reminds me of Romans 5:3-5 which says
"...but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us."

Thank you Lord Jesus for the good work that has begun in these teens lives and mine. Please help us to continue that good work!

Veni Sancte Spiritus

The Desert

I am in Scottsdale, Arizona for a training conference for Life Teen. I have never been in Arizona but I have learned a few things very quickly.
1) Dry heat is still hot.
2) Don't touch the cactus.
3) I never want to live in the desert.
It has been a great time to get away and recenter my ministry on what the Lord wants. Isnt that funny, often times we get so wrapped up in our plans and ideas that we forget what God wants to tell us. I cannot help but find myself thinking about Christ and the time in the Gospel where he went into the desert. He went to pray, fast, and was even tempted in the desert. I try to unite myself this week with the Lord (except I would be ok without the temptation), in prayer and fasting.

The desert can be a scary place. It is hot, a lot of critters crawling around and no water around. But it is something that we all have to go to through. It strengthens us to go through challenging times. May we be like Christ, living water in whatever desert we enter into throughout our lives.

Leaking Sink

I have this leaking sink in my apartment that I told my landlord about and yet he has still not come to fix it. I have called, emailed, and written but it is still leaking. I walk int the kitchen each morning and that is the first thing I see, and it bothers me so much. It gets under my skin. I just want to slam down the handle and make it stop. I am to cheap to go and buy a new part myself since I have a landlord. Something interesting happened to me today when I walked into the kitchen, I stopped and had this thought. Why does this leaking sink bother me so much but not other things that really matter in life. Why doesn't it bother me when I don't do my daily prayer, why doesn't it bother me when I sin, why doesn't it bother me when holiness is not my goal. We get caught up in the choirs of daily life and so worked up and concerned about them that our faith takes a back seat. My prayer for all of us especially myself is that we can stop focusing on the little things that don't matter and start focusing on the true "leaks" in our lives, the things that hold us back from God.

Confirmation Letters

 Since I am the director of the Confirmation program I have the privilege to read the letters to the Bishop on why the teens want to be confirmed.You may have heard that kids say crazy things...well teens say just as crazy things. Here are a few of my favorites.

One of my teens was talking about the importance of God in his life and that he wants to build his relationship with God. All good things....the only problem is that he worded it to say he wants to have relations with God.

One of my teens was talking about how he kinda liked the classes, they were fun and interactive but he said things he enjoyed the most were the times when we had guest speakers and he didn't have to listen to the normal presenter.....(that would be me)

Another one of my students decide to talk about how he liked Confirmation because there is nothing better to do with his life on Sunday night.

Last but not least, one of my teens worked on his letter to the Bishop for a long time and finally turned in his final draft. It was great, heartfelt, and worded well. The only problem was that his letter to the Bishop started like this: Dear Pope Benedict XVI.....I always tell my teens to shoot for the top.

Despite these few examples some of the teens wrote letters that would inspire people to become Catholic and I am truly proud of them.

Christmas Plays for five dollars

I thought about blogging a meaningful post and deeply spiritual blog but then I realized that since it is after the holidays I should share a couple funny stories.

One of the funniest moment I can think of was this past December. I was recruited to play music for the annual Christmas play at the parish. I practiced and rehearsed and the day was getting near. The play consisted of children playing the parts, and they had been practicing for a few weeks. The director had an idea that on the day of the play she would invite any children in the audience who weren't in the play to come up and create a children's choir and sing with me. I thought this was an interesting idea but I went with it. The day of the play arrived and I was excited to play and show my music skills. Plus I love to sing Christmas carols. The Director of the play invited the children to come and sing with me and no one moved . There must have been 30 kids in the audience and not one child budged. I thought wow do I look that scary, what could it be, but I shook it off and was ready to start the play. I was about to start singing when a group of three kids came running over to me and asked if they could sing with me. I was truly touched that these three kids from the same family wanted to sing with me. One of the children motioned for me to come to him like he wanted to tell me something. So I leaned in and the 9 year old boy said in the most loving voice, "My dad felt sorry for you and told each of us that he we would give us $5 if we came and sang with you." It was a time that I will never forget.

The other brief story I would like to share is from our recent retreat. My fiance came on retreat and led a small group. She is one of the best at relational ministry and I cant wait to marry her. That is besides the point, but she was leading a group of 9-10 grade girls. She was their small group leader the entire weekend. At the the end of the weekend one of her small group girls came up to me and told me she had a funny story for me.

She proceeded to tell me about an instance on Saturday when her small group was asking Nikki how she liked her job. Nikki said she really enjoyed it except for the fact that it so far from Joey. This girl who we will name Bri (for all intensive purposes) thought that was very strange since Joey was engaged, but Bri just let it go. Later on that weekend after hearing about Joey a lot from Nikki and seeing them together on retreat started to think this is not ok, Joey is engaged to someone and this girl Nikki is hitting on him, but Bri just kept to herself. That is until Sunday when Nikki mentioned in small group that she was engaged and, Bri just couldnt control it anymore and said something about it not being ok that Nikki likes Joey when they were both engaged to someone else. All the girls looked confused and had to explained to Bri that Joey and Nikki were engaged to each other. Bri told me this story on the way home from retreat, and she said I quote, "Im sure glad you weren't cheating on your finace that could have been real awkward."

So all in all it was a good Christmas season, I experienced kids being paid to sing with me and a teen who thought I was cheating on my fiance....Hopefully the new year brings more great stories!