Life is Spontaneous...

Yesterday, I got a text message from my good friend asking if I wanted to go to a Thunder game in Oklahoma City. Of Course, I could not say no, so an hour later we were on the road. We ate at "Old Chicago" had some great pizza, made a sign to hold up at the game walked a good ten minutes to get to the stadium. By the time we knew it, the game started and we were having some good fun. At the end of the game, Monte Ellis (8) tied up the game as people were leaving, thinking the game was over. It went into overtime, and there were empty seats. So my buddy and me went down the stairs and sat pretty close to courtside for the extra quarter. We had a great time. Life is Spontaneous wouldn't you say.

CD Collection

Getting autographs is always fun, even signing your own name is fun, well for me at least. Here at Saint Greg's we had a visitor come down and play for us, Luke Spehar, he is an amazing guitarist with a gifted talent. His songs are all based on finding the will of God and discerning his vocation. He came to play his second album for us at school. I got his autograph. In Washington, DC we we're out eating at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown and found out that the guy walking back and forth was Mark Ballas with Chelsie Hightower, two well known winners from the TV show Dancing with the stars, Me and my buddy bought his album which was set to release the very next day and got his autograph. Now, When we went to Nebraska, we got Corey Crowder's autograph along with the band and his newly released album. We didn't quite get Willie Nelson's autograph but we got Bobbie Nelson's. So we got a good collection going on here, hopefully we can keep going and having as much fun as we have been.

Willie Nelson in Concert

There are a lot of things that I have on my mind that I don't ever imagine doing while I am in college. Truthfully, those things are not really even on my mind, I don't think about them. I would have never thought I would shake Willie Nelson's hand when I am 19. That just was not something that I thought about. This weekend a friend of mine, offered a trip to Omaha, Nebraska to see a well known legend, Willie Nelson. By the time I knew it, we were on the road me and four others. It was a long drive but in the end it was worth it. When seven 'o clock rolled around we were driving around the Emporium Theater looking for a parking spot. We got our spot and tickets and something else. VIP passes to a room that was just loaded, It had nice furniture, good food, open bar and nice restrooms. When the concert started it was Corey Crowder playing then came Willie Nelson. He is really good on the guitar, I was surprised at how old he is and still doing good on the guitar, he looks pretty healthy to me. The crowd was getting into it, yelling out his name, and clapping along to the rhythm. When It was over, we rushed to the bottom of the theater, reached over a few heads and shook his hand.

Just a Walk

The season of Lent is finally here, a time of repentance, a time of noticing our sins and making a commitment to change them. The season of Lent calls for a time of fasting to focus more on prayer and the continuous conversion that we have. This year I am trying to only eat one meal a day, and two small meals. So far It's working good. It makes me more grateful then I have ever been with the food that I eat. I was so happy to eat such a tasty meal. It made me see what I have, and what others don't.

The bible says that Jesus is led into the desert by the Holy Spirit after he is baptized in the Jordan. He is led for forty days and forty nights to a place that is dry. No water, no food, no animals, no shade, it is a place of sorrow and sadness. The desert is a symbol, just as the Cross of our Lord is a symbol. With the cross, we are called to carry it, take it up, and engage in journey with it. The journey carrying the cross is not easy, we will fall, we will experience pain and suffering but in the end it is all worth it. Same thing with the desert, It is not going to be easy to walk in the desert, Our goal on the other side of the desert is not going to be easy, we are going to be tested, tried, tempted.

I was sitting in Mass today, and I just felt drawn. I didn't know what to, I didn't know what for. It was just like a calling deep inside, I wanted to just close my eyes and sit there in the presence of God. I closed my eyes and felt so comfortable, so relaxed and so warm. It felt like I was at home, like when you have nothing to worry about, nothing to think about. Deep inside I know that God is with me where ever I go, even when I feel he is not, he is. It seems like God knows me so well that he just wants me. He wants me for whatever it is that he has planned for me. Lately I have been moving from his own plans, but I can feel his tug and hear his call. This is my desert, It isn't going to be easy, but with God, It's Just a walk.

Just Visiting

The past two weeks of mine have been pretty spontaneous. Some friends and I decide we will just go to someone's house and be there for the weekend. It's been pretty fun, meeting different parents and grandparents. They feed us and give us a place to sleep, we get to hear some pretty amazing stories. Last weekend we visited some parents of a friend of mine. We got there and they had a beautiful house, two-stories, fireplace, nice kitchen, beautiful backyard view of the neighborhood pond, and not to mention a really cool dog! The kind parents feed us dinner, salad, on the nice table that they set up. It was really great, we hung out played "Yatzee" the game of rolling dice, drank coffee, and stayed up pretty late working on our talks for the retreat the next morning. The house is really a gorgeous house, it is one of those houses where you can just drop your job your plans and just retire in it. It's beautiful, the couple seemed to have everything under control, there wasn't ever really a mess in the house. I happened to grab a picture from the second floor.

The whole night we worked on our talks for the retreat. It was a very long night, but we got some great rest and finished off the retreat. When we came back to the house, I had a bathrobe waiting for me. kelly's parents wanted me to have it as a gift. I had a ton of fun hanging out and getting to know some different parents. They make some great coffee I don't think I will ever forget this one!


That was last weekend...This weekend we are staying at my friend's grandmother's house. Along with her hospitality, she has a very funny husband. this man could very easily go for a comedian. He does accents, has great stories, they are just a sweet family with a nice house. She fed us a ton of food, doesn't even care to sit down, she is so worried about caring for us. In the house she has probably over a hundred antiques that she doesn't even know about. In the house is a picture of her brother, who is the inventor of the push pop can opener for the sodas, with Pope John Paul II, the soon to be saint.She has an autographed picture of Don Larson's perfect game from the 1958 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. They got a picture of my friends great grandfather with the Hall of Famer, Lefty Grove. Not to mention a New York Yankee autographed baseball from the 1977 World Series with signatures of Lou Pinella, the Chicago Cubs manager, Billy Martin, the current Yankee manager, and a lot other big league names. So being here is an adventure for me, the hospitality is great, food is wonderful. Mom, we're visiting next!