Wednesday, July 30, 2008

stumbled upon

I stumbled upon this prayer today in my morning time with God. Its so inclusive I think thats why it's entitled the Universal Prayer. But really makes one think about how everything not just how we deal with other, but everything, should include God. It makes me think about how NFP works with God, even though sometimes its tough to do so, or maybe thats a side note from my listening to Katherine and Mac yesterday.

THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER (attributed to Pope Clement XI)
Lord, I believe in you: increase my faith.
I trust in you: strengthen my trust.
I love you: let me love you more and more.
I am sorry for my sins: deepen my sorrow.

I worship you as my first beginning,
I long for you as my last end,
I praise you as my constant helper,
And call on you as my loving protector.

Guide me by your wisdom,
Correct me with your justice,
Comfort me with your mercy,
Protect me with your power.

I offer you, Lord, my thoughts: to be fixed on you;
My words: to have you for their theme;
My actions: to reflect my love for you;
My sufferings: to be endured for your greater glory.

I want to do what you ask of me:
In the way you ask,
For as long as you ask,
Because you ask it.

Lord, enlighten my understanding,
Strengthen my will,
Purify my heart,
and make me holy.

Help me to repent of my past sins
And to resist temptation in the future.
Help me to rise above my human weaknesses
And to grow stronger as a Christian.

Let me love you, my Lord and my God,
And see myself as I really am:
A pilgrim in this world,
A Christian called to respect and love
All whose lives I touch,
Those under my authority,
My friends and my enemies.

Help me to conquer anger with gentleness,
Greed by generosity,
Apathy by fervor.
Help me to forget myself
And reach out toward others.

Make me prudent in planning,
Courageous in taking risks.
Make me patient in suffering, unassuming in prosperity.

Keep me, Lord, attentive at prayer,
Temperate in food and drink,
Diligent in my work,
Firm in my good intentions.

Let my conscience be clear,
My conduct without fault,
My speech blameless,
My life well-ordered.
Put me on guard against my human weaknesses.
Let me cherish your love for me,
Keep your law,
And come at last to your salvation.

Teach me to realize that this world is passing,
That my true future is the happiness of heaven,
That life on earth is short,
And the life to come eternal.

Help me to prepare for death
With a proper fear of judgment,
But a greater trust in your goodness.
Lead me safely through death
To the endless joy of heaven.

Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

the oddities of morality in Friday Night Lights

so again when we can't ever call someone out when they make a bad choice, then we have a society where everything is OK, and one full of hypocrisy.

Take the show Friday Night Lights,

While this is an exaggeration of what actually happens in the Bible belt south, it still represents some skewed views of what it is to be a Christian. And for someone to simply see this show and then say ok those people are Christians would be bad representation of what God wants us to be.

1. One of the Christian Moms, who is Black none the less, works for Planned Parenthood. (if the killing of innocent lives by Planned Parenthood isn't enough, then the eugenics of the organization should send you over the top).

2. One of the cheerleaders, Lila, is promiscuous and immodest who again goes to church and prays regularly but doesn't understand that God applies to her sex life.

3. All of these families have only 1 child, while some people can only have 1 child, but most of the people only choose to have one child because it would be too much work and sacrifice to have more.

4. Lila's father seems to think that anything less than the ideal for his not so good daughter and said that he would not support his daughter if she were to marry a crippled man. Because it would require too much sacrifice.

5. The boys in this "Christian" town are allowed to have as much sex as they want and in any way they want, and they are allowed to cheat with all schoolwork because they play football.

Many reasons why you can't just let things go. You need to be tolerant in the way that it is true instead of the live and let live philosophy.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

lesson

lesson being taught to me by God...

"I wanna be I wanna be like that mountain
I wanna stand taller and bigger than rest
See I just wanna be it a guy who wins all the time
I wanna be a big star a king and rule my own life
And God I know that it's wrong
So please just make my heart right
Inside and destroy my pride"

Monday, July 7, 2008

the things that odd ones like me think about

1. If we don't uphold the commands that God gave us and continues to give us in our actions and how we deal with others what will the world come to. Why is it that if it hurts someone's feelings but its what God tells us to do that we go against God? It just bugs me that because we are afraid to hurt each other's feelings we become this society that allows the bad and turns away from the good.

2.Am I racist or a bigot of some sort when behind me the man turns on his cell phone mp3 player and I am totally annoyed, because it is so loud and distracting. But the man was black. I would like to think I would be annoyed with anyone that plays their mp3 cell phone, when the rules post that you have to use headphones, but for some reason on the train it is always a black person. I hope that I haven't become someone who is annoyed at a particular race, but only a particular trait of disturbing others.

3. So you always see parents reprimanding kids for swearing, the thing is that most of those parents will swear in front of their kids. So why do they get so upset for their kids for swearing when they themselves aren't being a good example. Kids learn stuff from their parents despite what some may tell you.

Sorry for the rants.