**Playing Game with God

        Even though a lot of us avoid looking at God, I feel that that they are still playing a sort of staring contest with the Lord. They want to be their own lord, not letting him be the Lord, and see who would win. Of course, we won't be able to beat the Lord at any game. In fact, the moment you intend to play a game with God, you already lose. The Lord does not play games. If you are smart or wise, you'd just listen to and follow him. 

***Jesus Is Trustworthy

         The Gospel reading comes from John 4. Jesus returned to Cana in Galilee. A royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum went to Jesus to beg him to come down and heal his son, who was near death. Jesus said to him, "You may go; your son will live." The man believed what Jesus said to him and left. While he was on his way back, his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live. He asked them when he began to recover. Thy told him, "The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon." The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live,"
         Let me stop here because at this precise point the Lord overwhelmed me with an unstoppable joy. I had to stop until I recovered. It's caused by the realization that whenever Jesus says something will happen and it happens just as he'd said. This is something very beautiful that touched me deeply. Let me finish the story with the happy ending: "and the royal official and his whole household came to believe."

***Most Merciful Lord

        The Lord is so merciful to us because he understands our weaknesses so well. After all, he created us and even became one of us to live among us at one time. The one who had taught us to forgive even our enemies wants to give us every chance to repent of our sins and turn to him. He only wants to save us and keep us from getting ourselves condemned! We must see this clearly. That we have such a loving and patient Lord is certainly cause for rejoicing. 

***Most Beautiful Relationship for Us!

        Do you know that God loves us so much that he wants to be in complete union with us? The most beautiful relationship we can ever have awaits us to be formed. This is our prelude to heaven!

****God Reveals Truth to Us

         In Matthew, when Simon Peter said to Jesus, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father." This was Peter's great revelation. I know that only Christ (or the God of Christ) can save us—it is my revelation from the heavenly Father too. How do I know? I know because when God revealed something to you, you just know that it is true in your heart. No explanation needed and no further explanation I can provide.

***Only Sign We Need***

         Yesterday Fr. Mark Goring in his video talks about Medjugorje's 3rd secret revealing that there will be a permanent sign left by God at the apparition site presumably in the near future. Father mentioned past signs of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the spring at Lourdes, and the miracle of the sun at Fatima. The Lord does show signs to convert unbelievers. The miracle of the sun was indeed spectacular as witnessed by 70.000 people. No doubt that many became believers. The thing is that people tend not to connect themselves with anything that happened in the past. The Fatima miracle took place in 1917. The greatest sign has to be the Resurrection of Christ himself. That it did happen you cannot deny. (I had recommended the movie "The Case for Christ" to watch in case you still doubt about Christ's Resurrection. It was based upon a true story. I am going to leave the 2-minute long trailer below in case you're interested in watching the film.) The Resurrection rejuvenated all the disciples and got the Church going. What's true remains true forever. It is a big mistake for us to ignore any true sign just because it happened so long ago!

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***Being Good Not Good Enough*

         Of course, we should try to be a good person, but believing in Jesus as your Lord and Savior matters infinitely more than just trying to be good on your own. For with Jesus, your sins get take away for sure. Without him, they remain with you. 

***Superior Way of Living****

         It's not easy to let the past go. I saw an unhappy family blaming each other for the past mistakes they'd made. It'd be better to live in the present, making the best of what you have now. Then I see the superior way of living in Christ, which will take care the past, the present, and the future for us. Dwelling in the eternal Lord, we become eternal as well.

*Patience Needed in Following God

        These thoughts came to me as I walked this morning. God is in control and the good righteous people he will always defend while the bad wicked ones he'll punish. Things may not happen quickly as the Lord follows his own time schedule, so we must remain patient and keep our faith. Take care of our own soul and pray for all others—that's all we are expected to do.

***Formula for Holiness

        How holy you are is directly proportional to how obedient to the Father you are. 

**Officially Follwing Jesus

            Communion experience. I received exactly what the Apostles received at the Last Supper, and I heard the Lord say in my heart that "You are my apostle too."

***Do You Know . . .***

that God has made all of us good enough to become saints? It is true!

****What Life Is all About Again

        I am already an old person, so you should understand why I talk about life a lot, for I have seen a lot of it. I just had two volumes of my personal photos published, one in black and white, and one in color. I am giving some copies away to those who appreciate art and/or had supported me in the past. Just visited a friend who still has a clear mind at 98 and truly understands art, and gave copies to another 98-year-old local internationally-prominent artist friend already in hospice care. My wife just interrupted to inform me that a church friend had been diagnosed with sepsis in a hospital. We used to hike together and he walked at such a brisk pace that not many of us in the group could keep up with him. I believe that he's in his 80s now. So I can say that our whole life is on borrowed time from the Lord. 
        As I was walking this morning, I saw that we all entered the world to start our journey through this life. We depend upon others for many things, but basically we alone are responsible for the decisions and choices we make. If we do not have Christ as our guide, we simply wander through life to who knows where. If we do have Christ guiding us, then the world can go into chaos and we still know exactly where we are going and will end up. This makes all the difference to us!

**What Life Is All About

         When we are young, we follow ourselves. We can still be nice to others, but mostly it's ourselves first over all others. As we grow older and our body starts to weaken, we start to think about God more. This is a grace. We all will have to return to God, so life is all about whether we return to God during our time on earth, and if we do, when. Considering the fact we do not know how long we shall live on earth, if we continue ignoring God, we are gambling with our soul. 

*****Greatest Act of Love

        These thoughts came to me while praying the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary this morning. God has loved us from the very beginning. Jesus came to reveal to us how great that love truly is and how easily we can get ourselves saved. I can die for someone too, but the most I can accomplish is to save that person's life on earth. Only God can save the whole humanity for all eternity! Christ, the Son of God, took on that role. He did it selflessly and most humbly, leaving us to decide whether to believe in him or not. It was the greatest possible act of love! It is this love that has made me want Christ to be my Lord forever. God's love, our greatest joy! My journey back to my creator is now  complete.

***Truth Is Compelling!***

         In  today's Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus said to the people, "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." Choosing sides is now compelling. Otherwise, there's no point for him to have come to us at all! He compels as he is the truth!

**Instant Destruction and Instant Salvation

        Instant destruction—be your own god and do whatever you want to do.
        Instant salvation—let Christ be your Lord and God.

       The line separating the two is thin. How hard it is to cross over to the salvation side depends entirely upon how willing your heart is.        

Going to Heaven!*****

        As I walked outside today, I couldn't help rejoicing that the God has made it possible for me to have eternal life. Then realizing he has already assured me of that put a big smile on my face.