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Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Emmaus

My wife and I are so excited because our daughter is preparing to go on an Emmaus weekend. Let me explain what this is all about.

The Walk to Emmaus experience begins with a 72-hour short course in Christianity, comprised of fifteen talks by lay and clergy on the themes of God's grace, disciplines of Christian discipleship, and what it means to be the church. The course is wrapped in prayer and meditation, special times of worship and daily celebration of Holy Communion. The "Emmaus community," made up of those who have attended an Emmaus weekend, support the 72-hour experience with a prayer vigil, by preparing and serving meals, and other acts of love and self-giving. The Emmaus Walk typically begins Thursday evening and concludes Sunday evening. Men and women attend separate weekends.

My wife and I went on our Emmaus Walk thirteen years ago right after we met. It is an experience we will never forget. Although connected through The Upper Room to The United Methodist Church, The Walk to Emmaus is ecumenical. If you really want to get closer to Christ ask in your church about The Walk to Emmaus, or visit this website: Walk to Emmaus.

I would love to hear comments from others who have attended an Emmaus weekend.


Sunday, March 26, 2006

Eight Below















We went to the movies yesterday to see "Eight Below", a Walt Disney film based on a true story. We took our two gransons ages 13 and 8 and our son age 35. We all enjoyed it very much, it is a great family movie. You can't help but fall in love with the dogs as they struggle to survive the harsh winter in Antarctica.

You can view a movie trailer here. The story is about a team of sled dogs that were left alone when their owners had to evacuate during a winter storm and were unable to come back for them. We could learn some lessons from these dogs as they work together as a team and help each other survive the cruel Antarctica winter.

The movie is rated PG and it's a great family oriented action/adventure movie. There is one scene that will make you jump out of your seat, so be prepared. I highly recommend seeing "Eight Below".

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Things We Take For Granted

You may be asking yourself, what does this picture of a rotted out bathroom floor have to do with religion? Well, read on to find out.

We had a disaster in our bathroom last week (let me point out that our house is small and we only have one bathroom.) The pipe that feeds the water into the toilet had a slow leak that went unnoticed for a long time. Recently it became noticable when we had to continually mop up water on the floor. Finally the pipe burst and we were forced to make some repairs.

We had a plumber come out and fix the pipe and make sure the toilet was in good working order. He pointed out that the floor was rather mushy between the tub and toilet and we should have it looked at. We called a contractor to come and take a look, and sure enough the floor had been ruined from the continuous leaking. He had to tear up half of the bathroom floor and replace the sub-floor which had rotted out and become very mushy. If we had let it go on without repair we would have eventually fallen through the floor one day!

The whole point of this is that we tend to take many things for granted; such as having a toilet that works when you flush it, or a sink to wash your hands in. While the contractor was here we decided to remodel the bathroom and had him tear out the old tile on the walls and the old medicine cabinet, etc.

The project has taken three days so far and he will be back tomorrow for another two or three days before the job is complete.
I took off from work on Thursday and Friday to be here while he was working and it was quite a problem not having a bathroom to use. I had to run up to the grocery store or McDonalds every time I wanted to use the bathroom. Now he has the flooring complete except for the new linoleum which had to be special ordered. The toilet is back in place, but the bathroom sink is sitting in our living room until he can lay the new floor.

What a blessing it will be when everything is complete and things are back to normal! All of this inconvenience got me to thinking how we tend to take many things for granted. I hope that God is not one of these things that you take for granted. He is always with us and sometimes we forget about Him until we are in need, then we will call upon Him for his help! We should be in constant contact with God, not only in our times of need. We should not take Him for granted! I pray every day and thank God for all of my blessings, I hope that you do too.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Do You Believe in Angels?

Do You Believe in Angels? I certainly do. Following is a true story, this happened to me many years ago when I was around 8-years old. An edited version of this story was published in the Jan./Feb 2004 issue of "Angels on Earth Magazine".

Please respond to this post.

Skating on Thin Ice By: Mike Marinaro

The Oil Mill Pond was a large pond not far from our house. On one end was a dam, which was a truly beautiful site in the winter as the waterfall glistened in the sunlight and the rocks far below were covered in a sheet of ice. It wasn’t safe to skate too close to the dam because the water was constantly running there and the ice was very thin. I was about to discover just how thin the ice was and how very deep and cold the water was at this end of the pond!


I loved to look down at the ice as I glided across the smooth and glassy surface. In some spots I could see how thick the ice actually was. There were cracks and bubbles that formed interesting patterns underneath. It seemed as if everyone was crowded in the center of the pond where a hockey game was being played so I headed off towards the dam. I enjoyed the feeling of the wind blowing in my face as I picked up speed and raced across the ice.

Before too long it started to snow, just light flurries, but enough to lay a beautiful coat of white over the ice. I could skate around in circles and see the tracks in the snow from my skates. It was fun to make figure eights and other intricate patterns. The sounds of the crowd soon faded away, and the only thing I could hear was the scraping noise my skates made cutting into the ice.

Suddenly, there was another noise that sent shivers down my spine, a loud cracking sound! I looked up and realized that I had not been paying attention and had ventured too close to the dam. The ice was cracking beneath me; I could feel it giving way right under my feet! I turned and tried to skate towards shore but it was too late! My world exploded violently as the ice opened and swallowed me! It was a real shock as my body hit the freezing cold water and I sank like a rock to the bottom of the pond! That was over forty-five years ago but I can still remember it vividly like it was only yesterday! I will never forget that feeling of helplessness as I looked up towards the surface and could not see the hole I had fallen through!

Time seemed to slow down and run in slow motion as I sank to the bottom of the pond. I looked up and at first I could see the circle of broken ice with the sun shining through. But as I went down deeper the circle became smaller and smaller and the sunlight faded into a tiny beam of light. Then there was only darkness! Everything was pitch-black! I felt my feet hit the muddy bottom and I prayed for help. My instinct was to start swimming and hope that I could find the opening again. I could feel my body getting numb from the cold, my ears felt like they were made of ice and would shatter if I touched them! I was wearing a pair of gloves but they were soaked through and I could hardly move my fingers at all! I held my breath as long as I could but my lungs felt like they were about to burst!

Just then when I thought I wouldn’t last another second, I felt someone tapping me on the shoulder and heard a soft voice saying, “Don’t panic Mike, everything is going to be alright.” I spun around to see who was there but could see nobody at all. “Don’t try to swim, or you will lose your way. Just push your feet into the bottom and you will shoot straight up to the surface”, said the mysterious voice.

I pushed myself upward with all of my might and hoped that I would indeed find the hole, which seemed miles above me. “Trust me, I am here to help you”, I heard as I shot up from the bottom. Then a flash of bright light blinded me and I broke through to the surface gasping for air! I splashed around and tried to yell out for help but nothing would come out. I couldn’t believe that no one had seen me fall through the ice. What was I going to do now; every time I tried to pull myself up onto the ice another piece would break away. I thrashed around in the bone-chilling water for what seemed like an eternity.

My situation was getting worse as I neared exhaustion. Then for the second time that day a miracle happened. I was being lifted out of the icy cold water and helped onto the ice by someone I could not see! I can only assume that this was an angel sent to watch over me in my time of need. I tried to talk but still could not get any words to come out. I crawled to the shore and just laid there for awhile shivering and trying to recuperate. Again I heard a voice softly whispering in my ear, “I will go and find someone to help you”. The next thing I know, there was a crowd of people standing around me covering me with coats and asking me what had happened. Everything started to spin around and get blurry, and then I must have passed out.

I am absolutely positively sure about what happened that day and I believe without a doubt that it was an angel who pulled me from the icy water and saved my life!

Looking back on that near-death experience I noticed that I became more self-confident and less shy after that day. Up until then I had always been an introvert and did not make friends very easily. However, I now had a new found sense of well being and felt like I could handle any situation! After all, I had my very own angel to watch over me!

I was only eight years old when this happened but it is still fresh in my mind. Many times since then I have thought about that day and wondered if it was only another person who pulled me out of the water, or if it was really an angel. After decades of pondering this question I am convinced that it was indeed an angel who rescued me. There is no way that someone could have crawled out on that thin ice without also falling through!

The amazing thing about that fateful day that still sends shivers up and down my spine every time I recall it is that there were no other footprints in the freshly fallen snow. Just one set of skate tracks leading to the hole in the ice! Do I believe in angels – you bet I do!

Monday, March 06, 2006

Gone but not forgotten

I have several different blogs and it is very difficult to keep up with all of them. Sadly, this paticular blog gets the least amount of traffic. I hate to end this blog because I feel strongly about Christianity; therefore I will continue to post about religion in my new blog. I don't want to loose my base of faithful readers, so I hope you will follow me to my new home.

Please visit my new blog it will have a section for religious posts as well as other subjects. Eventually, I will move all of my blog content to this one central blog so it will be easier to keep up with. I would like to thank all of my readers, especially those who have left comments. I hope to see you visiting my new blog.

When I have enough content in my new blog to be approved by Blog Explosion, I will submit it for approval. Meanwhile you can see it here.

Have a blessed day.

Mike

Friday, March 03, 2006

Paul McCartney and The Seals


Paul McCartney and his wife Heather show their opposition to the Canadian seal hunt as they visited a harp seal nursery off the coast of Canada.
(Photo from Sea Sheperd)

This years hunt is scheduled for the end of March and during the last three years the Canadian government has allowed more than 900,000 seals to be killed. About 97 percent of them were under three months old and many less than one month old!

To learn more about this savage hunt where baby seals are clubbed and dragged across the ice with boathooks to be skinned alive, visit www.harpseals.org . You can also download a petition here to sign and send to the Canadian government.

I understand that this hunt is a source of income in an area where jobs are scarce; however, there is no excuse for the cruel way that the baby seals are being slaughtered. Please help stop this practice now!