Got Faith?

Theology and Christian Ministry student at Olivet Nazarene University

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2 Chronicles 7:14

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Satan continues his efforts to make sin less offensive, heaven less appealing, hell less horrific, and the Gospel less urgent.

John MacArthur

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Spring Break

Seventeen members of the ONU Cross-Country Team asked me to lead their mission trip to Puerto Rico during spring break last week. At first I was hesitant because my heart is in Tanzania, but the m…

From March 5th to March 12th I stayed at and served with a church in Puerto Rico named Iglesia del Nazareno - Casa de Proclamacion y Alabanza. My cross country team and my professor originally had planned to go to Haiti, but God closed that door and opened a new one. This is a simple blog written by my Professor who came with us. 

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There must of been a time when no physical things existed. But something cannot come from nothing.

Thomas Aquinas

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The Triumph of the Resurrection

Death was not what God desired for His creation, but it came as a result of disobedience in the garden. However, God has already planned a way to snatch the victory from death. Though it is a veil one must go through, you can return to life. The resurrection of Jesus is our guarantee. He took our place on the cross and rose victoriously from the dead. With one loving act He broke the chains of sin and abolished death’s hold. Because Jesus was raised we can trust that we will be too. He was the first of many, the first of God’s children to be raised to eternal life.

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The Purpose of Lent

Lent, its meaning lies in the truth that the deepest hunger in our lives must be the hunger for God. We can be filled with the power of God’s Spirit only to the extent that we have emptied ourselves of ambitions, intentions, and pursuits that center on the demand of self. Fasting symbolizes this truth. It signifies a willingness to be freed from those power of death which would enslave us, in order to live fully in the liberating power of Christ. Fasting teaches us that the way of discipleship requires a continual emptying of trust in our own power.

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The Word of Scripture should never stop sounding in your ears and working in you all day long, just like the words of someone you love. And just as you do not analyze the words of someone you love, but accept them as they are said to you, accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart. Do not ask ‘How shall I pass this on?’ but ask ‘What does this say to me?’ Then ponder this Word long in your heart unit it has gone right into you and taken possession of you.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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The world you are inheriting is a world which desperately needs a new sense of brotherhood and human solidarity. It is a world which needs to be touched and healed by the beauty and richness of God’s love.

Saint John Paul II

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“Father, I am begging to know how much I miss when I fail to talk to thee in prayer, and through prayer to receive into my life the strength and the guidance which only thou canst give. Forgive me for the pride and the presumption that make me continue to struggle to mange on my own affairs to the exhaustion of my body, the weariness of my mind, the trials of my faith. In a moment like this I know that thou couldst have worked thy good in me with so little strain, with so little effort. And then to thee would have been given the praise and the glory. When I neglect to pray, mine is the loss. Forgive me, Lord. Amen.”

Peter Marshall, 57th Chaplain of the United States

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To have found God, to have experienced him in the intimacy of our being, to have lived even for one hour in the fire of his Trinity and the bliss of his Unity clearly makes us say: 'Now I understand. You alone are enough for me.'

Carlo Carretto

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Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.

Henri J.M. Nouwen

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Click here to support Haiti Mission trip by Timmy Smith

Dear friends and family, I have been given an opportunity to go down to Minotre, Haiti this upcoming spring from March 5th to March 12th. The goal of this trip is to work with a village on their church, school, and orphanage in both construction on buildings and ministry with the people. Myself...

Hello All! I am trying to fundraise for a Mission Trip this upcoming March!

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Joy is the true gift of Christmas, not expensive presents that demand time and money. We can transmit this joy simply: with a simile, with a kind gesture, with some small help, with forgiveness. Let us give this joy and the joy given will be returned to us...Let us pray that this presence of God's liberating joy will shine in our lives.

Pope Benedict XVI

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At the birth of Christ, the manger was full-he way lying in a manger as a baby boy. At the resurrection of Christ the tomb was empty. It’s not as though human nature was a costume God wore and when he was finished with it he left if behind, and went back to being God. Christ became one of us, and when he rose from the dead his human body was still with him. That’s why the tomb was empty. He still stayed one of us and is still part of our family today. The child who was in that manger lives on as a human being, one of us today. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas.

Bishop Ken Untener

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Jesus is the light of the world!

Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79, NLT)

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Let us keep that joy of loving Jesus in our hearts, and share that joy with all we come in touch with. The radiating joy is real, for we have no reason not to be happy because we have Christ with us. Christ in our hearts, Christ in the poor we meet, Christ in the smiles we give and the smiles we receive.

Mother Teresa

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A Pearl Harbor Story

Today is the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese aircrafts. Among the 2,388 Americans who died during the attack in 1941, was the first U.S. Roman Catholic chaplain to be killed in action. Fr. Aloysius Schmitt was a 32-year-old priest from Dubuque, Iowa. He had just celebrated Mass on December 7, his last service on board the USS Oklahoma before he was to be transferred to duty on shore. When the bombs hit the Oklahoma, Fr. Schmitt ministered to the wounded and dying. After the call came to abandon ship, the young priest helped men squeeze through the porthole to safety. When he tried to get out, some of his ecclesiastical gear got caught and he couldn’t get through. He told the other men to pull him back into the ship so that others could escape. The next day, December 8, would have been the sixth anniversary of Fr. Schmitt’s ordination. Fr. Schmitt’s chalice was eventually recovered from the Oklahoma, and was presented to his alma mater, Loras College in Dubuque.

Chaplain Schmitt’s last words: “Please let go of me, and may God bless you all.”